Radiation of the Oriental phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae)

Abstract

Abstract The historical biogeography of phlebotomine sand fly taxa Hertigia, Warileya, Phlebotomus (Idiophlebotomus), P. (Spelaeophlebotomus), P. (Anaphlebotomus), and P. (Euphlebotomus) and the Phlebotomus (Euphlebotomus) argentipes species complex was investigated using phylogenetic inference from comparative genital morphology, distribution of ancestral taxa, fossil evidence and geological age. Idiophlebotomus and Euphlebotomus occur in the Oriental region with one species from northeast Australia, whereas Anaphlebotomus occurs both in the Afro‐tropical and Oriental regions. These disjunct distribution patterns across the Oriental region and the present day distribution are likely to be vicariance due to break of Gondwanaland. Fossil records, extant taxa distribution, phylogenetic analysis of the Old World Phlebotominae and paleogeography suggest that ancestors of Idiophlebotomus and Euphlebotomus originated apparently in the Cimmerian continent of northern margin of Gondwanaland in the early Permian (290 million years ago, MYA) and subsequently radiated in the Mesozoic by tectonic vicariance. The Phlebotomus argentipes species complex occurs in the South and South‐east Asian countries and transmits the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani that causes visceral leishmaniasis (Kala‐azar) in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The phylogeography of P. argentipes was caused through vicariance followed by dispersal events from 5O MYA (the Eocene) until the Recent era.