Sand fly blood meal volumes and their relation to female body weight under experimental conditions.

Background: Sand fly females require a blood meal to develop eggs. The size of the blood meal is crucial for fecundity and affects the dose of pathogens acquired by females when feeding on infected hosts or during experimental membrane-feeding.

Methods: Under standard laboratory conditions, we compared blood meal volumes taken by females of ten sand fly species from four genera: Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia, Migonomyia, and Sergentomyia.

Experimental feeding of Sergentomyia minuta on reptiles and mammals: comparison with Phlebotomus papatasi.

Background: Sergentomyia minuta (Diptera: Phlebotominae) is an abundant sand fly species in the Mediterranean basin and a proven vector of reptile parasite Leishmania (Sauroleishmania) tarentolae. Although it feeds preferentially on reptiles, blood meal analyses and detection of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum DNA in wild-caught S. minuta suggest that occasional feeding may occur on mammals, including humans.

Morphological Characterization of the Antennal Sensilla of the Afrotropical Sand Fly, Phlebotomus duboscqi (Diptera: Psychodidae).

We investigated by scanning electron microscopy the morphology, distribution, and abundance of antennal sensilla of females Phlebotomus duboscqi sand fly, an important vector of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis at Afrotropical region. Thirteen well-differentiated sensilla were identified, among six types of cuticular sensilla. The probable function of these sensillary types is discussed in relation to their external structure and distribution.

Integrative Approach to Grassi, 1908: First Record in Vienna with New Morphological and Molecular Insights.

Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) are blood-feeding insects that transmit the protozoan parasites spp. and various arthropod-borne (arbo) viruses. While in Mediterranean parts of Europe the sand fly fauna is diverse, in Central European countries including Austria mainly is found, an assumed but unproven vector of .