Abstract
BackgroundThe sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi is an Old World vector of Leishmania major, the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. This study describes the courtship behaviour of P. papatasi and compares it with that of Lutzomyia longipalpis, the New World vector of visceral leishmaniasis. Understanding the details of courtship behaviour in P. papatasi may help us to understand the role of sex pheromones in this important vector.ResultsP. papatasi courtship was found to start with the female touching the male, leading him to begin abdomen bending and wing flapping. Following a period of leg rubbing and facing, the male flaps his wings while approaching the female. The female then briefly flaps her wings in response, to indicate that she is willing to mate, thereby signaling the male to begin copulation. Male P. papatasi did not engage in parading behaviour, which is performed by male L. longipalpis to mark out individual territories during lekking (the establishment and maintenance of mating aggregations), or wing-flap during copulation, believed to function in the production of audio signals important to mate recognition. In P. papatasi the only predictor of mating success for males was previous copulation attempts and for females stationary wing-flapping. By contrast, male L. longipalpis mating success is predicted by male approach-flapping and semi-circling behaviour and for females stationary wing-flapping.ConclusionsThe results show that there are important differences between the mating behaviours of P. papatasi and L. longipalpis. Abdomen bending, which does not occur in L. longipalpis, may act in the release of sex pheromone from an as yet unidentified site in the male abdomen. In male L. longipalpis wing-flapping is believed to be associated with distribution of male pheromone. These different behaviours are likely to signify significant differences in how pheromone is used, an observation that is consistent with field and laboratory observations.
Highlights
The sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi is an Old World vector of Leishmania major, the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis
Individual behaviours performed during courtship P. papatasi courtship consisted of a number of distinct male and female behaviours (Table 1), separated by periods of remaining stationary or moving around the arena (‘not courting’)
As in L. longipalpis, touching between male and female was a common occurrence in P. papatasi courtship, with contact most often made with the tips of the legs or the antennae
Summary
The sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi is an Old World vector of Leishmania major, the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. The sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the principle vector of Leishmania major (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in the Old World [1]. A number of alternatives to insecticide use have been tried experimentally e.g. insecticide impregnated dog collars [7], toxic sugar baits [8] and bed nets [9] None of these approaches have been widely adopted, and no single solution is likely to be effective in controlling P. papatasi across its entire geographic range, which encompasses parts of Africa, India, Asia and Europe [10]. The vector, and the diseases it transmits, may become further widespread because of man-made and other local and global environmental changes [4,11,12]
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