Sandfly pheromones: Their biology and potential for use in control programs

Abstract

Summary :Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the vector of Leishmania chagasi the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in South and Central America, particularly Brazil, where the greatest incidence occurs. The disease is fatal if untreated. Although huge efforts have been made to control VL the incidence is increasing. Vector control remains an important element of disease control but residual spraying and other strategies have failed to make any lasting impact. Manipulation of sandfly chemical communication offers the opportunity to add new techniques and tools to reduce sandfly populations and thereby reduce Leishmania transmission. This paper reports the current understanding of several areas of sandfly chemical ecology and their prospects for application.

Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an Endemic Area of Leishmaniasis in Aquidauana Municipality, Pantanal of Mato Grosso Do Sul , Brazil

“…longipalpis 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 in which males are attracted by kairomones released by the hosts, leading the males to release pheromones that attract females 83 , 84 , 85 , providing an environment where sand flies can copulate, and females can feed in animals. Because of the weight of the females after feeding, they could seek refuge in shelters with less luminosity to perform digestion, thus becoming less attracted to the traps 80 .…”

Chemical ecology and olfaction in arthropod vectors of diseases

“…Specialized olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) detecting CO 2 in various arthropod vectors have been identified [30,31]. It is also worth mentioning that conspecific mating signals, especially pheromones, are not widely recorded in vectors, except in ticks [32] and sand flies [33].…”

Synthetic sex pheromone attracts the leishmaniasis vector Lutzomyia longipalpis to experimental chicken sheds treated with insecticide

“…Male L. longipalpis produce terpene sex pheromones from abdominal glands [14-18], which, in combination with host odour, attract both sexes to aggregations (leks) on or above host animals, where females bloodfeed and are mated [13,19,20]. Conventional treatment of lekking sites (most commonly chicken sheds) with insecticide kills the small number of males that arrive first to establish an aggregation, disrupts pheromone production, and thereby prevents further recruitment (and killing) of significant numbers of both sexes [21].…”