Horizontal stratification of the sand fly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a transitional vegetation between caatinga and tropical rain forest, state of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

A study about the horizontal stratification of the sand fly fauna in two distinct ecosystems, caatinga area, endemic for visceral leishmaniasis, and the tropical rain forest area, endemic for cutaneous leishmaniasis, was performed in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Lutzomyia longipalpis was predominant in the caatinga, and following it came the species L. capixaba and L. oswaldoi. In the tropical rain forest other species were found, such as L. intermedia, L. migonei, L. whitmani, L. yuilli, L.fischeri, L. damascenoi, L. evandroi, L. monticola, and L. lenti. It was found that the geographical limits of the vector species of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis are clearly defined by the biological and phytogeographic characteristics

Phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) in forested areas of the Serra da Bodoquena, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

“…The high abundance of N. whitmani (Table VII) has also been observed in other forested areas and in domestic animal shelters in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Southeastern, and Southern regions of Brazil as well as in Paraguay where this species has been considered the most important vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis (Pessôa & Coutinho 1941, Vexenat et al 1986, Hashiguchi et al 1992, Queiroz et al 1994, Galati et al 1996, Luz et al 2000, Teodoro et al 1991, Dias-Lima et al 2003, Leonardo & Rebêlo 2004. So the overwhelming predominance of this species in both seasonal deciduous sub-mountainous and gallery forests on the Bálsamo do Rio Perdido farm (Tables I, II) is perhaps due to the proximity of these two areas to the corral and pig pen which seem to influence the density of the species positively, since these shelters may act as artificial resting sites for the sand flies, or attract females to take their food from cattle and pigs as well as to find males for mating; the aspiration of Lu.…”

Biogeographical aspects of the occurrence of Nyssomyia neivai and Nyssomyia intermedia (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a sympatric area of the Brazilian savannah

“…Although there have been several studies on sandflies in Brazil, their scope has generally been restricted to one phytogeographic zone according to Dias-Lima et al (2003). Few studies have addressed the ecological features of the sandfly populations and a majority of the studies fo- cus principally on the importance of these insects in terms of the epidemiology of the leishmaniasis cycle.…”

Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) from Lábrea, state of Amazonas, Brazil, with a description of Evandromyia (Aldamyia) apurinan Shimabukuro, Figueira & Silva, sp. nov.

“…Ny. yuilli yuilli was found infected with Leishmania mexicana-like organisms (Arias et al 1985) and this species has also been found in forest habitats in the states of Bahia (BA) and Espírito Santo where it has been implicated as a vector of Leishmania spp (Vexenat et al 1986, Dias-Lima et al 2003, Pinto et al 2010. The low numbers of these two species collected in our study in the forest border, as opposed to the high number of Ny.…”