Recent advances in laboratory mass rearing of phlebotomine sand flies

Parassitologia. 1991 Dec:33 Suppl:361-4.

Abstract

Recent technical and procedural advances in mass rearing of sand flies have resulted in larger, healthier, and less labor-intensive colonies. We now maintain closed colonies of Phlebotomus papatasi, P. duboscqi, P. argentipes, and Lutzomyia longipalpis which produce up to 1,000 females per week, in excess of colony-maintenance requirements, for use in research. Advances include larval food preparation in acrylic-plastic incubator cabinets, strict regulation of food quantity and moisture in 500-ml plaster-lined rearing jars, use of large plaster-lined adult holding/mating cages and vacuum-powered aspirators for trauma-free handling of adults.

MeSH terms

  • Animal Feed
  • Animals
  • Entomology / instrumentation
  • Entomology / methods*
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Female
  • Insect Vectors / physiology
  • Leishmania
  • Psychodidae* / physiology
  • Reproduction