Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) from the Oriental Region

Abstract

Abstract. Four new species are described and descriptions of many others revised, and 128 species and two subspecies are now known from the Region. Keys to females of Grassomyia and the Sergentomyia babu series are provided, and the S.arboris series is defined and shown to be an exceptional long‐labrum group. Particulars of 1511 specimens from Indonesia are reported. The vector of kala‐azar around Calcutta is shown to be one of four variants of Phlebotomus argentipes and to have, on average, a slightly longer labrum than the others, more suitable for mammal feeding. The labral length of P.argentipes is, surprisingly, somewhat intermediate between those of most reptile and mammal feeders. Study of both Oriental and other sandflies strongly suggests that in Old and New Worlds the labrum has lengthened in relation to mammal feeding. In the Old World this has been accompanied by advance of the labral main adoral sensilla to produce a morphological, and probably functional, difference between the main Lm/zmam'a‐vector groups of the two hemispheres.