Sandfly (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) species diversity in an urban area of the municipality of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico

• Published in: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
• Main Authors: Oscar Fernando Mikery Pacheco, Julio Cesar Rojas León, Eduardo Alfonso Rebollar-Téllez, Alfredo Castillo Vera
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2015
• Subjects: sandflies; urban area; Mexico; urbanisation; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Microbiology; QR1-502; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-02760140351; https://doaj.org/article/159fa67d87b8431b8d875f9e2d437a87

Monitoring phlebotomine sandflies in urban areas is key for epidemiological studies in susceptible populations. This paper describes sandfly fauna that were present in an urban area of the municipality of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, and were captured with Shannon and CDC light traps. During February and March of 2014, 1,442 sandflies were captured, specifically Lutzomyia cruciata (Coquillet) (98.8%), Lutzomyia cayennensis cayennensis (Floch and Abonnenc) (0.8%), Lutzomyia chiapanensis (Dampf) (0.3%) and Lutzomyia atulapai (De León) (0.1%). Lu. cruciata was the most abundant and the most frequently trapped species. This is the first record of its remarkable ability to adapt to urban green areas. The three other species trapped represent new records of geographic distribution for the study region. These results indicate the need to establish measures for reducing both human contact with this vector and the risk of possible sites of infection.