Relationships of phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera)

Abstract

The status of phlebotomine sand flies in relationship to the family Psychodidae (Diptera) is reviewed. It is concluded that sand flies should be given familial recognition as Phlebotomidae, divided into the subfamilies Phlebotominae and Bruchomyiinae. A comparison is made between the evolution of Psychodidae and Phlebotomidae, and it is concluded that the two families represent contrasting evolutionary experiments at an early stage of the diversification of Diptera.

Palaearctic origin of Leishmania

“…Two genera of phlebotomine sand flies are vectors for Leishmania among mammals: Phlebotomus in the Old World and Lutzomyia in the New World. Entomologists such as Lewis (1982) and Williams (1993) assumed that these genera evolved in iso-lation for 120 million years; more likely, the separation occurred less than 36 million years ago, during the Oligocene. The fossil record indicates that a phlebotomine sand fly, ancestral to Phlebotomus, Sergentomyia, and Lutzomyia, existed 120 million year ago in what is now Lebanon; Phlebotomus from 30 million years ago was preserved in Baltic amber; and Lutzomyia from 26 million years ago was preserved in Mexican amber (Lewis 1982).…”

“…Fifth, fossil evidence indicates that phlebotomine sand flies (Lewis 1982), the only vectors, and murid rodents (Nowak 1991), the most important zoonotic reservoirs, both originated in the Palaearctic, making it improbable that Leishmania originated in the Neotropical. Noyes (1998) himself acknowledged that his hypothesis of a Neotropical origin of Leishmania is inconsistent with the position of Sauroleishmania external to Leishmania (Lainson & Shaw 1987) or the classification of New and Old World species of phlebotomine sand flies in separate genera (Williams 1993).…”

A new fossil species of Phlebotominae sand fly from Miocene amber of Chiapas, Mexico (Diptera: Psychodidae)

“…Nevertheless, their taxonomy is controversial and much discussed. Rohdendorf (1964) as well as Abonnenc (1976) and Williams (1993) gave them family rank, whereas they were treated as a subfamily of Psychodidae including six genera of Phlebotminae according to Lewis et al (1977) and Young and Duncan (1994), as a subfamily including 24 genera according to Artemiev (1991), and as a subfamily including 31 genera according to Galati (2003).…”

Fossil psychodoid flies and their relation to parasitic diseases

“…They are either considered as belonging to the family Psychodidae, or a genuine family Phlebotomidae forming with the Psychodidae the superfamily of Psychodoidea , 1974, Lewis 1973, Williams 1993. Sand flies are characterized by their densely hairy wings, giving them a moth-like appearance.…”