Abstract
A comparative molecular study was performed on the three species of Phlebotomine sandflies belonging to the subgenus Transphlebotomus Artemiev whose morphological differentiation is difficult. All three species have been suspected, but never proven, to be vectors of Leishmania infantum. The ND4 gene from mtDNA was sequenced from specimens of five populations of Phlebotomus mascittii Grassi from Belgium (the first records of Phlebotomine sandflies from this country), France, and Germany. Additionally, specimens from one population of Lebanese P. canaaniticus Adler and Theodor and of one population of Cypriot P. economidesi Léger, Depaquit and Ferté topotypes were examined. The results reveal the validity of the three taxa inferred from molecular variation and a molecular homogeneity shared by all of the populations of P. mascittii included into the present study. The epidemiological consequences are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler S (1946) The sandflies of Cyprus (Diptera). Bull Entomol Res 36:497–511
Artemiev MM, Neronov V (1984) Distribution and ecology of sandflies of the world (genus Phlebotomus). Institute of Evolution, Morphology and Animal Ecology, Moscow, pp 1–208
Bogdan C, Schonian G, Baňuls AL, Hide M, Pratlong F, Lorenz E, Rollinghoff M, Mertens R (2001) Visceral leishmaniasis in a German child who had never entered a known endemic area: case report and review of the literature. Clin Infect Dis 32:302–306
Depaquit J, Léger N, Ferté H, Rioux JA, Gantier JC, Michaelides A, Economides P (2001) Les Phlébotomes de l’île de Chypre. III. Inventaire faunistique. Parasite 8:11–20
Depaquit J, Ferté H, Léger N, Lefranc F, Alves Pires C, Hanafi H, Maroli M, Morillas-Marquez F, Rioux JA, Svobodova M, Volf P. (2002) ITS 2 sequences heterogeneity in Phlebotomus sergenti and Phlebotomus similis (Diptera, Psychodidae): possible consequences in their ability to transmit Leishmania tropica. Int J Parasitol 32:1123–1131
Gállego Berenguer J, Botet Fregola J, Gállego Culleré M, Portũs Vinyeta M (1992) Los phlebotomos de la Espaňa peninsular e Ilos Baleares. Identification y corologia. Comentarios sobre los métodos de captura. In Memoriam Prof Doc D Francisco de Paula Martinez Gomez. S. Hernandez-Rodrigues, Cordoba, pp 579–600
Grimm F, Gessler M, Jenni L (1993) Aspects of sandfly biology in southern Switzerland. Med Vet Entomol 7:170–176
Jacobson RL, Eisenberger CL, Svobodova M, Baneth G, Sztern J, Carvalho J, Nasereddin A, El Fari M, Shalom U, Volf P, Votypka J, Dedet JP, Pratlong F, Schonian G, Schnur LF, Jaffe CL, Warburg A (2003) Outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern Israel. J Infect Dis Jacobson RL188:1065–1073
Killick-Kendrick R (1990) Phlebotomine vectors of the leishmaniases: a review. Med Vet Entomol 4:1–24
Koehler K, Stechele M, Hetzel U, Domingo M, Schonian G, Zahner H, Burkhardt E (2002) Cutaneous leishmaniosis in a horse in southern Germany caused by Leishmania infantum. Vet Parasitol. 109:9–17
Khoury C, Cavallini C, Miceli N Maroli M (1992) Distribution and relative density of phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Rome, Italy. Ann Parasitol Hum Comp 67:151–154
Léger N, Pesson B, Madulo-Leblond G (1985) Nouvelles localisations en France de Phlebotomus ariasi, P.mascittii et Sergentomyia minuta (Diptera-Phlebotomidae). Ann Parasitol Hum Comp 60:367–368
Léger N, Depaquit J, Ferté H (2000a) Les Phlebotomes (Diptera-Psychodidae) de l’île de Chypre. I. Description de Phlebotomus (Transphlebotomus) economidesi n. sp. Parasite 7:135–141
Léger N, Depaquit J, Ferté H, Rioux JA, Gantier JC, Gramiccia M, Ludovisi A, Michaelides A, Christophi N, Economides P (2000b) Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera-Psychodidae) of Cyprus. II. Isolation and typing of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum Nicolle, 1908 (zymodeme MON 1) from Phlebotomus (Larroussius) tobbi Adler and Theodor, 1930. Parasite 7:143–146.
Lewis DJ (1982) A taxonomic review of the genus Phlebotomus. Bull Br Mus Nat Hist (Entomol) 45:121–209
Maroli M, Khoury C, Bianchi R, Ferroglio E, Natale A (2002) Recent findings of Phlebotomus neglectus Tonnoir, 1921 in Italy and its western limit of distribution. Parassitologia 44:103–109
Naucke T, Pesson B (2000) Presence of Phlebotomus (Transphlebotomus) mascittii Grassi, 1908 (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Germany. Parasitol Res 86:335–336
Naucke TJ, Schmitt C (2004) Is leishmaniasis becoming endemic in Germany? Int J Med Microbiol. 293 [Suppl 37]:179–181
Péhu, Bertoye (1931) Sur un cas de kala-azar survenu chez un enfant de 5 ans n’ayant jamais quitté les Vosges. Lyon Med 147:731–734
Pesson B, Léger N, Madulo-Leblond G, Petavy AF, Cambon M (1985) La leishmaniose en Auvergne. Med Mal Infect 15:107–109
Philippe H (1993) MUST, a computer package of management utilities for sequences and trees. Nucleic Acids Res 21:5264–5272
Rioux JA, Golvan YJ (1969) Epidémiologie des leishmanioses dans le sud de la France. Monographie Inserm 37, Paris
Sadlova J, Hajmova M, Volf P (2003) Phlebotomus (Adlerius) halepensis vector competence for Leishmania major and Le. tropica. Med Vet Entomol 17:244–250
Saitou N, Nei M (1987) The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol 4:406–425
Sawalha SS, Shtayeh MS, Khanfar HM, Warburg A, Abdeen ZA (2003) Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) of the Palestinian West Bank: potential vectors of leishmaniasis. J Med Entomol 40:321–328
Soto SIU, Lehmann T, Rowton ED, Vélez ID, Porter CH (2001) Speciation and population structure in the morphospecies Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva) as derived from the mitochondrial ND4 gene. Mol Phylogenet Evol 18:84–93
Swofford DL (2002) PAUP: phylogenetic analysis using parsimony, version PAUP* 4.0. Smithonian Institution Press, Washington, DC
Theodor O (1948) Classification of the Old World species of the subfamily Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidae). Bull Entomol Res 39:85–118
Toumanoff C, Chassignet R (1954) Contribution à l’étude des phlébotomes en Corse. Bull Inst Nat Hyg 9:664–687
Volf P, Özbel Y, Akkafa F, Svobodova M, Votypka J, Chang KP (2002) Sand flies (Diptera: Phlebotominae) in Sanliurfa, Turkey: relationship of Phlebotomus sergenti with the epidemic of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. J Med Entomol 39:12–15
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank M. Boutry and C. Grimplet for their technical help; N. Haddad and S. Perrotey provided us with the P. canaaniticus specimens and M. Kaltenbach for reading the manuscript. All experiments complied with the current laws of the countries in which they were performed.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Depaquit, J., Naucke, T.J., Schmitt, C. et al. A molecular analysis of the subgenus Transphlebotomus Artemiev, 1984 (Phlebotomus, Diptera, Psychodidae) inferred from ND4 mtDNA with new northern records of Phlebotomus mascittii Grassi, 1908. Parasitol Res 95, 113–116 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-004-1254-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-004-1254-x