Sib-mating enhances fitness in a haplodiploid beetle.

Inbreeding is generally avoided in animals due to the risk of inbreeding depression following an increase in homozygous deleterious alleles and loss of heterozygosity. Species that regularly inbreed challenge our understanding of the fitness effects of these risks. We investigated the fitness consequences of extended inbreeding in the haplodiploid date stone beetle, Coccotrypes dactyliperda.

Some aspects of entomological determinants of Phlebotomus orientalis in highland and lowland visceral leishmaniasis foci in northwestern Ethiopia.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the major public health problems in northwest Ethiopia, mainly in Libo-Kemkem and Metema districts, where Phlebotomus orientalis is the most probable vector of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine the physiological age, host preference and vectorial potential of P. orientalis in the highland and lowland foci of the region.

Host-feeding preference of Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an endemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in northern Ethiopia.

Background: Blood-feeding behavior studies are important for estimating the efficiency of pathogen transmission and assessing the relative human disease risk. However, in Ethiopia and other parts of East Africa there are large remaining gaps in identifying the feeding habits of Phlebotomus orientalis, the vector of Leishmania donovani. The aim of the study was to determine the blood feeding patterns of P.

Species composition of phlebotomine sand flies and bionomics of Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an endemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Tahtay Adiyabo district, Northern Ethiopia.

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected tropical disease, which is strongly associated with poverty. VL caused by Leishmania donovani and transmitted by Phlebotomus orientalis is endemic in various remote areas of north and north-west Ethiopia. The present study was designed to determine the sand fly fauna and bionomics of P.

The influence of moonlight and lunar periodicity on the efficacy of CDC light trap in sampling Phlebotomus (Larroussius) orientalis Parrot, 1936 and other Phlebotomus sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Ethiopia.

Background: Phlebotomus orientalis is the main sandfly vector of visceral leishmaniasis in the north and northwest of Ethiopia. CDC light traps and sticky traps are commonly used for monitoring sandfly populations. However, their trapping efficiency is greatly influenced by various environmental factors including moonlight and lunar periodicity.

Nocturnal periodicity of Phlebotomus (Larroussius) orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an endemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Northern Ethiopia.

Background: Phlebotomus orientalis is the major vector of the intramacrophage protozoa, Leishmania donovani, the etiological agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in northern Ethiopia and Sudan. The objective of this study was to determine the nocturnal periodicity of P. orientalis in the VL endemic focus of Tahtay Adiyabo district, northern Ethiopia.

Host choice of Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) in animal baited experiments: a field study in Tahtay Adiyabo district, northern Ethiopia.

Background: Host choice and feeding success of sand fly vectors of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are important factors in understanding the epidemiology and for developing efficient control strategies. The aim of the present study was to determine the host preference of Phlebotomus orientalis in the VL focus of Tahtay Adiyabo district, northern Ethiopia.

Methods: Two separate experiments were conducted testing attraction of P.

Characterization of breeding sites of Phlebotomus orientalis - the vector of visceral leishmaniasis in northwestern Ethiopia.

We studied breeding sites of Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) the vector of visceral leishmaniasis in northern Ethiopia. Although numbers were rather small, 165 sand flies were captured emerging from vertisol cracks. The most productive breeding sites were cracked vertisols, dry river banks and close to trees.

Sergentomyia spp.: breeding sites in vertisols and peri-domestic habitats in North West Ethiopia.

Sand flies belonging to the genus Sergentomyia Franca & Parrot, 1920, are hematophagous insects feeding mostly on reptiles and birds, but some species feed also on mammals including humans. Sergentomyia spp. frequently comprise the vast majority of sand flies trapped along with Phlebotomus spp.

Attraction of phlebotomine sand flies to baited and non-baited horizontal surfaces.

Female phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) transmit leishmaniasis as they engorge on vertebrate blood required for egg production. Phlebotomus (Phlebotomus) papatasi (Scopoli, 1786), the vector of Leishmania major (Yakimoff & Schokhor, 1914), the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) were not attracted to large horizontal sticky traps (LHSTs) unless these were baited with CO2 derived from dry ice or from fermenting sugar/yeast mixture (SYM). Attraction of P.

Breeding sites of Phlebotomus sergenti, the sand fly vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Judean Desert.

Phlebotomine sand flies transmit Leishmania, phlebo-viruses and Bartonella to humans. A prominent gap in our knowledge of sand fly biology remains the ecology of their immature stages. Sand flies, unlike mosquitoes do not breed in water and only small numbers of larvae have been recovered from diverse habitats that provide stable temperatures, high humidity and decaying organic matter.