Life history of the sand fly vector Lutzomyia cruciata in laboratory conditions

Abstract

Lutzomyia cruciata Coquillet (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) is a potential vector of Leishmania sp.; its geographical distribution in Mexico is widespread, but its life history is unknown. The present study gives relevant information on the life cycle, morphology, survival and reproduction of Lu. cruciata observed over successive generations under laboratory conditions. Seven successive generations were produced. A total of 975 adults were obtained in a sexual proportion of 1.1 : 1 (female : male). Each Lu. cruciata female produced 20.7 eggs and 1.9 adults, approximately, with a proportion of eggs per female of 2.7% (first generation) and 21.3% (second generation). The life cycle of Lu. cruciata, from egg to adult, occurred in 52.7 ± 0.52 days. The largest percentage of mortality occurred during the egg stage (48.5%) and the first larval instar (26.5%), whereas in the pupal stage mortality was the lowest (9.1%). Lutzomyia cruciata exhibits sexual dimorphism based on size, which is exhibited as of the second larval instar, males being smaller than females. The maximum survival of females and males was 10 and 15 days, respectively. An overview of the immature stages of the species made with an electronic scanning microscope is included. This paper contributes basic information on aspects of Lu. cruciata that were previously unknown related to its life history.

Reproductive consequences of female size in haematophagous ectoparasites

“…Higher growth rate of female larvae may result in shorter development time (Vaughan and Coombs, 1979;Amin et al, 1993; X. ramesis in this study), which, in turn, is at least partially responsible for femalebiased sex ratios in populations of many flea species (see Krasnov, 2008, for review). In addition, intersexual differences in growth rate may cause sexual size differences to appear at stages of pre-imaginal development later than egg (Castillo et al, 2015).…”

Significance of eggshell morphology as an additional tool to distinguish species of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae)

“…The chorionic sculpturing of sand fly eggs was first studied and described by Ward and Ready in thirteen species of New World sand flies [4]. The ultrastructure of sand fly eggshells was investigated in many New World species (approximately 50 species) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] but only in a limited number of species of Old World sand flies [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Chorionic patterns reflect phylogenetic relationships among certain Lutzomyia sand fly species in the New World [6][7][8]10].…”