The family Psychodidae, within which phlebotomines flies are clas

The family Psychodidae, within which phlebotomines flies are classified, is very old and maintains some of the most ancient dipteran characters. Members of the family are distinguished by a dense covering of narrow scales on head, thorax, legs, and wing veins. Of the five psychodid subfamilies, only the Phlebotominae have piercing mouthparts capable of taking blood. Furthermore, the phlebotomines tend to have an elongate and more fragile structure, in contrast to a squatter and more robust appearance of the other psychodid flies. Phlebotomine

sandflies are small with a body length seldom exceeding 1.5–3 mm ( Fig. 2). Their colour ranges from almost white to almost black. Three features of phlebotomines are characteristic to distinguish them from http://www.selleckchem.com/HSP-90.html other members of the Psychodidae: (1) when at rest, they hold their wings at an angle above the abdomen; (2) they are hairy; and (3) when alighting to engorge, they typically hop around on the host before settling down to bite. The hopping behaviour has given rise to the assumption that they do not disperse far from breeding sites. However, R428 supplier one species (Phlebotomus ariasi) has been shown to move further than 2 km, although several studies show that the distance varies with species and habitat and that maximum

dispersal seldom exceeds one kilometer. Preliminary studies with a wind tunnel suggest that their maximum flight speed is a little less than 1 m/sec. Unlike mosquitoes, their attack is silent. They are crepuscular-nocturnal but some may bite during daylight. Females of most

species are predominantly exophagic (biting outdoors) and exophilic (resting outdoors during the maturation of eggs) and cannot be effectively controlled by house spraying with insecticides. In contrast, species which are endophilic (resting indoors during the maturation of eggs) can be attacked this way ( Killick-Kendrick, 1999). Sandflies are distributed throughout the world in tropical and subtropical, arid and semi-arid areas and temperate zones. Both males and females feed on sugar sources in the wild, but only females take a blood meal prior to laying their eggs in terrestrial microhabitats that are rich in organic matter SPTLC1 such as soil and animal burrows, which serves as nutrient for the larvae (Alexander, 2000). Autogeny is also seen (Lewis, 1971). Their life cycle commences with the egg, followed by four larval instars, then pupae and finally the adult stage. Egg and larval dormancy and diapause have been reported for sandflies (Ready, 2013). Diurnal resting places are cool and humid environments (Killick-Kendrick, 1999). They can locate around resting places in large numbers. Possible resting sites include animal barns (inside/outside), houses (inside/outside), poultry houses (inside/outside), caves, tree holes, leaf litter, and spaces between or under rocks, animal burrows, and rock crevices, holes of walls and among vegetation.

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