Vol. 107, No. 5, November & December, 1996 317 COLLECTIONS OF SAND FLIES (DIPTERA: PSYCHODIDAE) FROM MAMMAL BURROWS IN AN AREA OF CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS IN CAMPECHE, MEXICO 1 Eduardo A. Rebollar-Tellez^, Fernando J. Andrade-Narvaez^, Ildefonso Fernandez-*, Filiberto Reyes-Villanueva^ ABSTRACT: Sand flies were caught from December 1993 to November 1994 in an endemic focus of cutaneous leishmamasis in the state of Campeche, Mexico. A total of 566 sand flies of seven species were collected using emergence funnel-traps, at openings of several mammal burrows. The main species collected were Lutzomyia deleoni and Brumptomyia hamata. Population abundance was found bimodal with the first and higher peak from January to March. A small second peak was found from May to October. Phlebotominae sand flies are small haematophagous insects, well known as vectors of human diseases such as bartonellosis, several arboviruses (mainly Bunyaviridae), and leishmaniases (Young and Duncan 1994). About 700 spe-cies of sand flies are known in the world in six genera: Phlebotomus, Sergen-tomyia and Chinius in the Old World, and Lutzomyia, Brumptomyia and Warileya in the New World. Transmission of Leishmania spp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypano-somatidae) is restricted to the genera Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia (Lane 1993). Sand flies are mainly crepuscular and/or nocturnal. During day-time these phlebotomines rest in a wide variety of shelters such as rock crevices, tree-trunks, caves, underneath dead leaves and animal burrows (Adler and Theodor 1957, Minter 1982, Ward 1985). Such microhabitats might be breeding places. Little is known in Mexico about the resting/breeding sites of sand flies. The aim of this study was to document the seasonal dynamics of sand flies collected from mammal burrows. MATERIAL AND METHODS Study site. The study site was 8 km southeast of the village of La Libertad, Campeche, Mexico. At this site the vegetation is classified as a subperennial tropical forest. In this area the weather is humid-dry with an annual mean tem-1 Received November 20. 1995. Accepted: May 20, 1996. 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, United Kingdom 3 Departamento de Inmunologia, CIR "Dr. Hideyo Noguchi", Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Apdo. Postal 2-1277, Merida, Yucatan 97240, Mexico. 4 Laboratorio de Entomologfa Medica, Fac. Ciencias Biologicas, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. Apdo. Postal 109-F, San Nicolas de los Garza, N. L. 66451, Mexico. ENT. NEWS 107(5) 317-321, November & December, 1996
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