Vector potential of Phlebotomus duboscqi and P. papatasi: a comparison of feeding behaviour, reproductive capacity and experimental infection with Leishmania major.

Phlebotomus duboscqi and P. papatasi are the incriminated vectors of Leishmania major, the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in various parts of the world. Factors contributing to the vector potential of these two species were investigated in the laboratory. It was found that 90.1% of the P. duboscqi females tested completed feeding in 1 h and they could complete up to eight gonotrophic cycles in their maximum adult life-span in the laboratory of almost 2 months. In contrast, only 70.3% of the female P. papatasi took bloodmeals within 1 h and they could only complete a maximum of four gonotrophic cycles in the maximum adult life-span of just 1 month. Biting habit (proportion feeding/day of the gonotrophic cycle), survival (proportion surviving first oviposition), gonotrophic discordance (proportion refeeding on blood before first oviposition) and experimental infection (proportion of flies offered a bloodmeal containing L. major which became infected) were all higher for P. duboscqi (0.18, 0.91, 0.50 and 0.65, respectively) than for P. papatasi (0.14, 0.71, 0.12 and 0.56, respectively). It therefore seems likely that P. duboscqi is a much more effective vector of L. major than P. papatasi in several endemic foci of ZCL.