The phlebotomine sandflies of Venezuelan Amazonia

Abstract

Phlebotomine sandflies were surveyed in two ecologically contrasted areas, the northern moist and southern wet tropical forests, of the Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela. Three new taxa and twenty-one new records were added to the previously known species list for Venezuelan sandflies, which now totals eighty species. Both sexes of Lutzomyia (Psychodopygus) killicki sp.n., L. (Trichophoryomyia) bettinii sp.n., L. (Nyssomyia) olmeca reducta subsp.n. and and the females of L. bernalei Osorno et al., Brumptomyia pintoi Costa Lima and L. begonae (Ortiz & Torres) are described and illustrated.

Phlebotomine Sand Flies from São Gabriel da Cachoeira (State of Amazonas, Brazil) with a Description of Lutzomyia (Psychodopygus) douradoi n. sp. (Diptera: Psychodidae)

“…The female of L. douradoi is otherwise very close to L. chagasi and other species (L. squamiventris, L. complexa, L. wellcomei, L. fairtigi and L. killicki) in which the spermatheca is shorter than the individual sperm duct and the common duct is entirely hyaline. The ratio of the lengths of spermatheca including head: individual duct: common duct is approximately 1:3:0.6 in L. douradoi and closer to 1:2:1 in descriptions of the other species (Martins et al 1968, Fraiha et al 1971, Ryan 1986, Feliciangeli et al 1988; measurements unavailable for L. fairtigi). The common duct and basal halves of the individual sperm ducts are so transparent in this group that they can be difficult to see in cleared and mounted specimens, but their relative lengths should be a useful diagnostic character for L. douradoi in material being examined for leishmanial and other parasites.…”

“…douradoi groups with L. chagasi for the number of vertical cibarial teeth and the length of the first flagellomere (Martins et al 1968) and therefore differs from L. squamiventris for these characters. Neither L. douradoi nor L. chagasi present the very short basitarsi on the fore -and midlegs described for L. killicki by Feliciangeli et al (1988).…”

“…The 35 species of Lutzomyia in this collection from São Gabriel da Cachoeira include 19 of the 22 species identified in samples from southern Território Federal Amazonas, Venezuela (Feliciangeli et al 1988). The remaining three species in that collection (L. furcata, L. tuberculata, L. shannoni) are widely distributed in northern South America.…”

“…The extreme northwest of Brazil between the Colombian and Venezuelan borders is poorly represented in collections of Phlebotominae, and the main original contribution to records for the upper and middle Rio Negro region is a list of 22 species identified among 283 sand flies collected in southern Território Federal Amazonas, Venezuela (Feliciangeli et al 1988). The rapids at São Gabriel da Cachoeira conventionally mark the division between the upper (alto) and middle (médio) Rio Negro and even a small collection from this area (67 o W on the equator) can contribute to filling substantial gaps in current maps of species distribution (Young & Duncan 1994).…”

Descriptions of Lutzomyia (Evandromyia) georgii n. sp. and a Synopsis of the Series infraspinosa (Diptera: Psychodidae)

“…4 o 30'N, 61 o 8'W), CDC light trap at 1 m, 26/6/1988 (Nelson Fé, col.). Character states of the female of L. begonae used in the key are derived from Feliciangeli et al (1988). The holotype of L. tarapacaensis is in Montpellier, France (Le Pont et al 1996) and, due to current Brazilian restrictions on the exchange of biological material, we did not request to examine it.…”