biting midge

But in 2015, warm autumn weather produced a rare third hatching of biting midge.

Dr. McAlister herself hates chocolate, but she is fond of the kind of flies that pollinate the cacao plant — a variety of biting midge.

The virus is typically transmitted by a biting midge, Culicoides paraensis, that ranges from Argentina to as far north as Wisconsin.

"The main species is the Highland biting midge, the one with the spotty wings and the one most people will be familiar with," she says.

The disease, which is spread by a biting midge, is common in white-tailed deer.