Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:28:09.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Circadian flight activity of Arabian sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) using a vehicle-mounted net

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

D.M. Roberts
D.M. Roberts*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman
*
D.M. Roberts, Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36, Al-Khod 123, Sultanate of Oman.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A vehicle-mounted net was used on 15 nights during June 1990 and 1991 in northern Oman to collect sandflies in order to identify potential vectors of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. A total of 2216 sandflies was collected comprising four species of Phlebotomus and three of Sergentomyia. Catches were made every 30 minutes between 17.00 h (2 hours before sunset) and 07.00 h (1.5 hours after sunrise). Very few flies were caught before sunset. Most flies were caught at light intensities < 0.1 lux (between 20.00 and 0.500 h), but some flight activity, particularly of males and unfed females, continued even up to 07.00 h (50,000 lux, 1.25 hours after sunrise). Females of the two most abundant species, Phlebotomus alexandri Sinton and Sergentomyia clydei Sinton were significantly more active during the first half of the night (19.00-01.00 h), but males were not. Males of S. clydei showed no clear activity pattern, while males of P. alexandri had two peaks with a decline in activity around 01.00 h. Sergentomyia tiberiadis Adler & Theodor and S. fallax Parrot similarly showed different activity patterns for the two sexes. The circadian activity of females of P. alexandri and S. clydei changed during their gonotrophic cycles. Thus unfed and gravid P. alexandri had two activity peaks during the night, but the blood-fed females were most active during the first half of the night. S. clydei activity was similar, except that the gravid flies, like the blood-fed, had an early peak of activity. Too few parous females were collected to show any clear difference in activity from the nullipars.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 86 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 61 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abul-hab, J. & Al-hashimi, W. (1988) Night man-biting activities of Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli (Diptera, Phlebotomidae) in Suwaira, Iraq. Bulletin of Endemic Diseases 29, 5–15.Google Scholar
Akey, D.H. & Barnard, D.R. (1983) Parity in airborne populations of the biting gnat Culicoides variipennis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in northeastern Colorado. Environmental Entomology 12, 91–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaniotis, B.N., Correa, M.A., Tesh, B.N. & Johnson, K.M. (1971) Daily and seasonal man-biting activity of phlebotomine sandflies in Panama. Journal of Medical Entomology 8, 415–420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Disney, R.H.L (1972) Observations on chicken-biting blackflies in Cameroon with a discussion of parous rates of Simulium damnosum. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 66, 149–158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El Said, S., Beier, J.C., El Sawaf, B.M., Doha, S. & El Kordy, E. (1986) Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) associated with visceral leishmaniasis in El Agamy, Alexandria Governorate, Egypt. II. Field behaviour. Journal of Medical Entomology 23, 609–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guan, L.R., Xu, Y.X., Li, B.S. & Dong, J. (1986) The role of Phlebotomus alexandri Sinton, 1928 in the transmission of kalar-azar. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 64, 107–112.Google Scholar
Hashiguchi, Y., Gomez, E.O., De Coronel, V.V., Mimori, T. & Kawabata, M. (1985) Biting activity of two anthropophilic species of sandflies, Lutzomyia, in an endemic area of leishmaniasis in Ecuador. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 79, 533–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoogstraal, H., Dietlein, D.R. & Heyneman, D. (1962) Leishmaniasis in the Sudan Republic: 4. preliminary observations on man-biting sandflies (Psychodidae Phlebotomus) in certain upper Nile endemic areas. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 56, 411–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lane, R.P. & Buttiker, W. (1988) Sandflies (Diptera: Phlebotom-inae) from the Wahiba Sands, Oman. Journal of Oman Studies 3, 389–390.Google Scholar
Mohsen, Z.H. (1983) Biting activity, physiological age and vector potential of Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli (Diptera: Phlebotomidae) in central Iraq. Journal of Biological Science 14, 79–94.Google Scholar
Quate, L. W. (1964) Phlebotomus sandflies of the Paloich area in the Sudan (Diptera, Psychodidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 1, 213–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, D.M. & Irving-Bell, R.J. (1985) Circadian flight activity of Simulium spp. (Diptera: Simuliidae) sampled with a vehicle-mounted net in central Nigeria. Bulletin of Entomological Research 75, 23–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, D.M. & Kumar, S. (1994) Using a vehicle-mounted net for studying the activity of Arabian sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 31, 388–393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schorscher, J.A. & Goris, M. (1992) Incrimination of Phlebotomus (Larrousius) orientalis as a vector of visceral leishmaniasis in western Upper Nile Province, southern Sudan. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 86, 622–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srinivasan, R. & Panicker, K.N. (1992) Biting rhythm and biting activity of phlebotomid sandflies. Indian journal of Medical Research, Section A, Infectious Diseases 95, 301–304.Google ScholarPubMed
Sukkar, F., Yawanis, F., Al-Doori, N.A. & Al-Mahdawi, S.K. (1985) The possible vector of visceral infantile leishmaniasis in Iraq. Bulletin of Endemic Diseases 26, 27–37.Google Scholar
Williams, P. (1966) The biting rhythms of some anthropophilic sandflies in British Honduras. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 60, 357–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yuval, B. & Schlein, Y. (1986) Leishmaniasis in the Jordan Valley. III. Nocturnal activity of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) in relation to nutrition and ovarian development. Journal of Medical Entomology 23, 411–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed