The biology of Phlebotomus langeroni (Diptera : Psychodidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract

We have done a laboratory study on the biology of Phlebotomus langeroni which was first recorded in El Agamy area, Alexandria, Egypt, where visceral leishmaniasis occurs. The fecundity, longevity and productivity were investigated in relation to the type of blood meal (human, guinea pig and chicken). Fecundity was significantly higher when females were fed on human than on chicken and guinea pig blood, where the mean number of eggs laid per female was 62.6 ± 1.9, 56.6 ± 6.9 and] 47.5 ± 3.2 [respectively. Females fed on human lived longer than those fed on guinea pig or chicken (14.1 ± 0.2, 10.7 ± 0.4 and 7.6 ± 0.3 days respectively). There was a marked prolongation in larval development in case of guinea pig fed female than the two other cases (27.8 ± 0.8, 24.1 ± 0.5 and 24.0 ± 0.8 days respectively. The nature of blood meal of the mother do not affect the pupal duration. The productivity (the number of adults produced from eggs of individual females) decreased significantly from human (28.4 ± 2.3) to guinea pig (16.0 ± 2.3), and chicken (13.8 ± 4.1). The high productivity of females fed on human and the anthropophilic feeding tendency, may account for the efficiency of P. langeroni as a vector of human diseases.