Effect of blood source on the survival and fecundity of the sandfly Lutzomyia ovallesi Ortiz (Diptera: Psychodidae), vector of Leishmania

Abstract

Introduction. The reproductive potential of sandflies depends on various factors, one of whichis the type of host available as blood source, which is important in determining their capacity toserve as vectors.

Objective. The present study evaluated the effect of the animal blood source on various biologicalparameters of Lutzomyia ovallesi (Ortiz) under laboratory conditions.

Materials and methods. Two-day-old females from a L. ovallesi colony were artificially fed torepletion using a chicken skin membrane with blood from seven different species of vertebratehosts, horse, dog, cow, chicken, goat, pig and human. Life-span, time of oviposition, time forblood digestion, number of eggs laid, number of eggs retained and the total number of eggswere recorded.

Results. The results show the influence of blood source on different biological parameters of L.ovallesi. The results showed that in L. ovallesi, chicken blood is the most quickly digested (3.34days) and gives the longest time of oviposition (5.88 days), the greatest number of eggs retained(10.20 eggs per female) and the greatest fecundity (30.80 eggs per female) compared with theother sources of blood studied. The most satisfactory animal blood source was chicken followed,in descending order, by goat, cow, pig, human, dog and horse.

Conclusions. The data showed that, in bio-ecological terms, the best blood source for L. ovallesiwas chicken and the least satisfactory one was horse. These results contribute to theunderstanding of the factors that influence the rearing of the sand fly L. ovallesi under laboratoryconditions, and of how dietary factors for adult sand flies affect their biological potential andcould have important consequences on the transmission of Leishmania.