Journal of Medical Entomology (2021) 58, 480-485

Ioannis A. Giantsis, Stavroula Beleri, Georgios Balatsos, Vasileios Karras, Eleni Patsoula, Dimitrios Papachristos, Antonios Michaelakis and Alexandra Chaskopoulou (2021)
Sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) population dynamics and natural Leishmania infections in Attica Region, Greece
Journal of Medical Entomology 58 (1), 480-485
Abstract: A 2-yr sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) seasonality study was performed in Attica Region, Greece, from June 2017 until November 2018, aiming also to detect the presence of Leishmania infection in the collected sand flies. In total, 701 sand flies were collected from urban areas within the Attica Region using BG-Sentinel traps, set weekly in eight fixed sites. Five species were identified morphologically and molecularly, namely Phlebotomus tobbi (Adler and Theodor), which was most the most commonly collected species, followed by P. Neglectus (Tonnoir), P. papatasi (Scopoli), P. simici (Theodor), and Sergentomyia minuta (Rondani). During both survey years sand fly populations peaked in late August to early September. Fifty-nine monospecific pools were examined for Leishmania detection by analyzing the ITS1 nuclear region using both RFLPs and sequencing, seven of which were found positive. Leishmania DNA was identified as L. infantum in six pools (five P. papatasi and one P. tobbi), whereas in one P. papatasi pool Leishmania DNA was identified as L. tropica. This is the first time that L. tropica has been detected in naturally infected sand flies from the Attica Region as well as in central Greece, while previously it has only been detected in sand flies collected from Central Macedonia (Northern Greece).
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Ioannis A. Giantsis, Dimitrios P. Papachristos, Antonios Michaelakis

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
population dynamics/ epidemiology

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Phlebotomus papatasi		Greece
	Sergentomyia minuta		Greece
	Phlebotomus simici		Greece
	Phlebotomus neglectus		Greece
	Phlebotomus tobbi		Greece