Taxonomy and Biology of Phlebotomine Vectors of Human Disease.
Abstract
Five new Lutzomyia species were collected in Colombia in 1986; these previously unknown females of other sand flies were illustrated and described. In the same paper, new distributional records for Colombia were documented. Three other new taxa, collected from leishmaniasis foci in Texas, Colombia and Peru, were discovered. Lutzomyia peruensis, a suspected vector of Leishmania in Peru, may represent two or more morphospecies. Results of studies of oocyte topography of 5 Lutzomyia species and brain cell chromosomes of 12 species showed interspecific variation. Specimens of sand flies from various neotropical countries were examined. Information on them and all other known species will be incorporated into a handbook on the genus Lutzomyia. Several species in this genus are being maintained in laboratory colonies. Two papers dealing with the transmission of Leishmania (Texas strain) by these lab-bred sand flies (L. shannoni, L. diabolica and L. anthophora) were submitted for publication. A list of laboratory colonies of phlebotomines presently available is provided. Alagoas virus, a VSV serotype, was discovered in sand flies from NE Colombia for the first time in arthropods; up to 87% of the people living in the same area had neutralizing antibodies to this virus. Natural infections of Leishmania braziliensis were found in three species of sand flies that were cryopreserved in the field using simple apparatus. Another Leishmania species or subspecies, but apparently undescribed, was discovered in two females of L. hartmanni and human patients in Colombia.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 30, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA188775
Entities
People
- D. G. Young
Organizations
- University of Florida