Dinâmica espaço-temporal de flebotomíneos (Diptera, Psychodidae) do município de Santa Quitéria, área de cerrado do Estado do Maranhão, Brasil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Spatial-temporal dynamics of phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera, Psychodidae) in the municipality of Santa Quitéria, "cerrado'' area, State of Maranhão, Brazil. The seasonal fluctuation, hourly frequency and occurrence of phlebotomine sandflies inside and around dwellings and in the cerrado area of the municipality of Santa Quitéria, State of Maranhão were studied. The specimens were collected between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am from May 1999 to April 2000 through CDC-type light traps. A total of 4,880 specimens belonging to 11 species were collected. The highest species richness and abundance were observed around dwellings (11 species, 50.1% of the specimens), followed by species collected inside dwellings (9 species, 34%) and in the cerrado (7 species, 15.8%). Two species were found during the rainy season, one during the dry season and eight during both seasons. High frequencies of Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz & Neiva, 1912 (88.4%), L. evandroi Costa Lima & Antunes, 1936 (83.6%), L. lenti Mangabeira, 1938 (86%), and L. shannoni Dyar, 1929 (100%) were recorded during the dry season, whereas the frequencies of L. quinquefer Dyar, 1929 (100%) and L. whitmani Antunes & Coutinho, 1939 (75%) were higher during the rainy period. Phlebotomine sandflies were collected throughout the night, but the times of higher frequency varied according to species, with peaks being observed for L. quinquefer

Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a cerrado area of the Maranhão state, Brazil

“…This is a well adapted species to anthropogenic environments, vectoring The occurrence of Lu. whitmani in the peridomiciliary area shows that this species is highly adapted to human conditions, a fact already noted in other regions of Maranhão (Rebêlo et al 1999a,b, Martin & Rebêlo 2006, Leonardo & Rebêlo 2004). This vector has previously been found naturally infected with Leishmania species from the braziliensis complex, which is involved in the cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in Maranhão (Oliveira-Pereira et al 2006), and in other Brazilian areas as well (Rangel & Lainson 2003, Costa et al 2007.…”

“…chagasi to the far east of the Amazonian basin, including Maranhão. The remaining species are commonly found in the São Luís Island and in other eastern areas of Maranhão (Rebêlo et al 1999a, Martin & Rebêlo 2006, Marinho et al 2008.…”

“…However, studies focusing on the overall sand fl y species diversity of the Cerrado biome in Maranhão state were only carried out in a restricted region, mostly at the municipality of Santa Quitéria (Martin & Rebêlo 2006) in the low Parnaiba River zone.…”

Frequency and diversity of phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Sinop, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…However, population dynamics of sand flies may vary from region to region, as well as with climatic variables (20) (21) . In this study, and others (22) (23) (24) (25) , the highest sand fly frequency and diversity occurred during the rainy season. In addition, a positive (albeit weak) correlation between sand fly frequency and precipitation levels was observed, which has also been reported in other studies (6) (16) (26) (27) .…”

The effect of fragmentation on phlebotomine communities (Diptera: Psychodidae) in areas of ombrophilous forest in São Luís, state of Maranhão, Brazil

“…According to Martin & Rebêlo (2006), this low frequency may be associated with various factors, such as the absence of a source of blood meals and shelters in the vicinity of the collection points and the small area of in luence of the light traps (5 m) (Dye et al 1991). Nonetheless some species exist naturally in very low densities, and their populations can therefore suffer considerable reductions in size in small fragments, making them more vulnerable to local extinction.…”