Morphological studies on Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia.

In general, leishmaniasis is more or less a problem not only in Saudi Arabia but also in all countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In Saudi Arabia, the most important form is zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCI.). It's main vector, Phlebotomus papatasi has been reported and incriminated by many authors. In this paper, the diagnostic morphology of P. papatasi as compared to other species found in Riyadh as well as the immature stages was given. This is considered as a base line data for studying the ecology and biology of P. papatasi. No doubt the best control strategy is based on complete understanding of the insect vector of ZCL.