We are pleased to announce a new article on Featured Creatures!
Take a sneak peek with this excerpt from the article: The true sand flies are small dipterans in the family Psychodidae, sub-family Phlebotominae. These flies are densely covered with setae, have long slender legs, and broad and pointed wings that are held erect at rest (Lane 1993, Rutledge and Gupta 2009). The term sand fly also is applied to biting midges that belong to the family Ceratopogonidae and to black flies that are members of the family Simuliidae (Rutledge and Gupta 2009). Several phlebotomine species are vectors of the protozoan parasites in the genus Leishmania, that are the causal agents of leishmaniasis. There are three main forms of leishmaniasis: cutaneous, muco-cutaneous and visceral (WHO 2015).
Figure 1. Adult (A) female and (B) male Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva), a sand fly. Photographs by Cristina Ferro, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Colombia.
Available at: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/flies/Lutzomyia_longipalpis.htm
Authors: María C. Carrasquilla and Phillip E. Kaufman, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida
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