Daily and Seasonal Man-Biting Activity of Phlebotomine Sandflies in Panama

Abstract

The daily and seasonal man-biting activity of 7 anthropophilic species of phlebotomine sandflies was recorded in a Panamanian forest over a period of one year. Lutzomyia olmeca, L. panamensis, and L. pessoana were predominantly active at ground level, L. gomezi, L. sanguinaria, L. trapidoi, and L. ylephiletrix in the forest canopy. The distribution of daily biting activity at ground level was 45.9% crepuscular, 39.0% nocturnal, and 15.1% diurnal. The relatively high level of diurnal biting was due to one species, L. pessoana. In the forest canopy the distribution was 35.7% crepuscular, 63.7% nocturnal, and only 0.6% diurnal. The seasonal manbiting activity was not totally in accord with either specific or total population trends, indicating that the biting rate at a particular time was related not only to sandfly density but to other undefined factors, including variation in physiological state of female flies.