Fauna And Frequency Of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) In Southwestern Iran

Abstract:
Determination of sand flies species is very important especially as vectors for Leishmaniasis in most provinces in Iran. This study was conducted to determine fauna and frequency of sand flies in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province located in southwestern Iran. Sand flies samples were collected from five counts during May to November 2015 using sticky traps. Traps were installed in indoor and outdoor places of the rural selected areas after sunset and collected before the next day sunrise. Collected sand flies monitored for monthly activity and identified after mounting. From a total of 8500 collected specimens, 12 species of sand fly were identified. They were from two genera (Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia). Phlebotomus species (with 50.8% frequency) including: Phlebotomus sergenti (58.3%), P. caucasicus (26%), P.papatasi (12.5%) and P. kandelaki (1%). Sergentomyia species including: Sergentomyia tiberiadis (49.5%), S. clydei (22.6%), S. dentana (6.5%), S. sintoni (10.7%), S. theodori (6.5%), S. baghdadis (2.1%), S. parratomyia (1.1%) and S. iranica (1.1%). The most trapped phlebotomus species were from indoor places (62.5%). P. sergenti observed the dominant species in the most study areas with relatively high frequency. Due to this species is the main vector for Anthroponotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) and the study province surrounded by three provinces which focuses of cutaneous leishmaniosis, it can be deduced that the potential of ACL in this province is considerable.