Open AccessDiscrimination of the Plasmodium mexicanum vectors Lutzomyia stewarti and Lutzomyia vexator by a PCR‐RFLP assay and Wolbachia infection
Author(s) -
Hughes G.L.,
Samuels S.K.,
Shaikh K.,
Rasgon J.L.,
VardoZalik A.M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of vector ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.688
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1948-7134
pISSN - 1081-1710
DOI - 10.1111/j.1948-7134.2014.12092.x
Subject(s) - biology , psychodidae , lutzomyia , vector (molecular biology) , zoology , parasite hosting , phlebotominae , spermatheca , ecology , identification (biology) , leishmaniasis , genetics , gene , recombinant dna , world wide web , computer science , sperm
Lutzomyia vexator (Coquillett 1907) and L. stewarti (Mangabeira Fo & Galindo 1944), are two of the fourteen reported species of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) inhabiting North America (Young and Perkins 1984). These two species are found in sympatry in California (Ayala 1973, Young and Perkins 1984), and often occupy the same rodent burrows for resting sites. Both species transmit the saurian malaria parasite, Plasmodium mexicanum, to lizards in northern California (Ayala, 1973, Schall 2000, Vardo-Zalik 2009). Additionally, these flies have been documented as hosts for other reptilian pathogens, including trypanosomes, haemogregarines, and gregarines (Ayala 1973). Therefore, knowledge of these vectors is important for understanding reptilian disease ecology. Lutzomyia vexator has also been implicated as a potential vector for canine leishmaniasis after being found in upstate New York proximal to a canine leishmanisis outbreak (Ostfeldt et al. 2004).