Morphological Study of the Larval Spiracular System in Eight Lutzomyia Species (Diptera: Psychodidae)

Human Urogenital Myiasis Caused by Psychoda Species Larvae: Report of Five Cases and Morphological Studies

“…The oligopneustic (which comprises the amphipneustic type) and apneustic larvae, with 0-4 pairs of functional spiracles may be used for subsequent adaptation to a subemerged life in a fluid or semifluid medium (Fausto et al, 1998). Among Psychodidae, the aquatic larvae of Psychodinae have the post-abdominal spiracles opening at the end of a respiratory siphon as an adaptation to the aquatic mode of life in a good agreement with our description.…”

Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae): a review

“…The advantages of these studies include observing a number of structures that are not visible using standard microscopy allowing for a better understanding of its biology, physiology, behavior and also as an additional tool for taxonomy. Also, using the fourth instar larva (Fausto et al 1998), described the structure of the larval spiracular system in eight Lutzomyia species, including L. longipalpis using light and SEM. This structure can assume a great variety of forms and therefore can be used as a taxonomical tool for grouping different species.…”

Posterior spiracles of fourth instar larvae of four species of phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) under scanning electron microscopy

“…Although identification to species of sand fly larvae has been attempted using chaetotaxy (Ward 1976), this method is time-consuming and a number of alternative schemes have been proposed (Leite & Williams 1996). Recently, the larval spiracles have been considered as a possible tool for immature identification and might be a useful feature for grouping species by subgenus or species-group, or to distinguish among species within the same group (Fausto et al 1998(Fausto et al , 1999. In the present study, posterior spiracles of three specimens of fourth instar larvae from the following laboratory colonies were examined: Lutzomyia longipalpis (progenitors from Sobral, State of Ceará, Brasil, 3 o 45'S, 40 o 5') and L. migonei, L. lenti, and L. whitmani (progenitors from Baturité, Ceará, 4 o 20'S, 38 o 55'W).…”

“…This feature was also observed in the three other species. A detailed description of morphology and ultrastructure of the spiracles is given by Fausto et al (1998Fausto et al ( , 1999. In L. migonei (Fig.…”

“…The number of papillae varied according to the species examined, but no intraspecific differences were found. Venezuelan specimens of L. longipalpis and L. migonei, however, have been reported to have a number of papillae different from Ceará specimens, and intraspecific variation (Fausto 1998) (Table). This may be due to geographic variation or could be a further evidence for L. longipalpis as a species complex (Ward et al 1983).…”