Abstract Two haemolytic bacterial strains of Bacillus pumilus ( CU1A , CU1B ) and one blood‐utilizing strain of Bacillus licheniformis ( CU2B ) were isolated from relatively low numbers of field‐collected females of Culicoides oxystoma and Culicoides peregrinus ( D iptera: C eratopogonidae). A total of 36 females, including 18 of each of C. oxystoma and C. peregrinus (consisting of one and a pool of eight blood‐engorged specimens, and one and a pool of eight non‐engorged specimens for each species), were tested. In C. oxystoma , all three strains of bacteria were isolated from the one non‐engorged, the pool of non‐engorged and the pool of blood‐engorged females tested, but CU1A and CU2B were not found in the one blood‐engorged female tested. In C. peregrinus , all three strains were present in the pool of blood‐engorged females. However, the strain CU2B was not found in the pool of non‐engorged females. In the one blood‐engorged and one non‐engorged female tested, CU1A and CU2B were detected. The bacterial strains were identified based on Gram staining, enzyme activity (amylase and protease) and alignment of the 16S rRNA partial gene sequence to that available in the N ational C enter for B iotechnology Information ( NCBI ) database GenBank . The functional role and significance of these haemolytic and blood‐digesting bacteria within the genus Culicoides remain to be determined.