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Phlebotomine sandfly responses to carbon dioxide and human odour in the field
Author(s) -
Pinto M. C.,
CampbellLendrum D. H.,
Lozovei A. L.,
Teodoro U.,
Davies C. R.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2915.2001.00294.x
Subject(s) - sandfly , biology , psychodidae , phlebotominae , leishmaniasis , lutzomyia , ecology , zoology , cutaneous leishmaniasis , veterinary medicine , leishmania , parasite hosting , immunology , medicine , world wide web , computer science
. Responses of Lutzomyia sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebo tominae) to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and human odour were investigated by field experiments in Paraná State, southern Brazil. Catches of two predominant species: Lu. intermedia (Antunes & Coutinho) and Lu. whitmani Lutz & Neiva, were compared between traps baited with a human adult or with CO 2 emitted at the human‐equivalent rate. When the baits were only 40 cm apart, no difference of attractiveness was detected. When baits were separated by 20 m, however, significantly fewer sandflies (44% Lu. intermedia , 46% Lu. whitmani ) were trapped with CO 2 compared with human bait. This is the first field evidence that anthropophilic sandflies are attracted by human kairomones in addition to CO 2. For both species, the proportion of human attractiveness attributable to CO 2 was significantly less for males than females; for Lu. intermedia males human bait was no more attractive than CO 2 alone. Gender differences in sandfly olfactory sensitivity are likely to be associated with behavioural differences on the host, where females feed on blood and males find mates. With traps 20 m apart, both Lutzomyia spp. showed roughly linear increased responses (log–log scale) to 0.08–0.55% CO 2 equivalent to 0.5–4 humans. This would explain why host size is generally proportional to attractiveness, as observed for other species of phlebotomine sandflies.