Physicochemical factors affecting the diversity and abundance of Afrotropical Culicoides species in larval habitats in Senegal

•We conducted a physico-chemical soil analysis of fourteen larval habitats in Senegal in order to define the physico-chemical factors that affect the abundance and diversity of Culicoides.•We identified three major habitat types, conditioning the predominant species of Culicoides.•These results showed that pH and the amount of organic matter were positively correlated with the abundance of larvae and emerging Culicoides, as opposed to salinity.•Furthermore, the diversity of emerging Culicoides was positively correlated with pH while it was negatively correlated with salinity.