Species diversity and flagellate infections in the sand fly fauna near Porto Grande, State of Amapa, Brazil (Diptera: Psychodidae.: Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae)

Forty-six species of Lutzomyia and one species of Brumptomyia were identified among 20,008 sandflies collected in central Amapa. L. squamiventris maripaensis, L. infraspinosa, L. umbratilis and L. ubiquitalis accounted for 66% of the specimens caught in light traps, and L. umbratilis was the commonest of the 16 species found on tree bases. Seven species of Lutzomyia including L. umbratilis were collected in a plantation of Caribbean pine. Sixty out of 511 female sandflies dissected were positive for flagellates. Among the sandflies from which Leishmania was isolated, promastigotes were observed in the salivary glands and foregut of 13 out of 21 females scored as having very heavy infections in the remainder of the gut, reinforcing the idea that salivary gland invasion may be part of the normal life cycle of Leishmania in nature. Salivary gland infections were detected in specimens of L. umbratilis, L. whimani and L. spathotrichia. Parasites isolated from L. umbratilis, L. whitmam and also from one specimen of L. dendrophyla containing the remains of a bloodmeal, were compatible with Le. guyanensis by morphology and behaviour in hamsters.