Abstract
Nocturnal activity of Phlebotomus papatasi in the Jordan Valley was monitored by trapping flies exiting and entering burrows of the sand rat Psammomys obesus. Exit-entrance traps were placed from dusk to midnight and from midnight to dawn on burrow openings. A total of 1,576 flies was caught. Most flies caught in the 1st half of the night (79.1%) were exiting, while most caught in the 2nd half of the night (77.3%) were entering burrows. Examination of the stage of ovarian development and blood-feeding status of the females indicated that these factors affected female activity patterns: 33.7% of females caught between dusk and midnight were at advanced stages of ovarian development, while only 6.4% of those caught between midnight and dawn were in a similar condition. In addition, 59.2% of the females and 39% of the males exiting burrows between dusk and midnight had fructose in the gut, while 79.2% of the females and 81.4% of the males entering burrows between midnight and dawn were positive for fructose. The implications of these results for the understanding of sand fly behavior in the field are discussed.
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