摘要：An investigation was carried out in Ahar district, (a new focus of
visceral leishmaniasis), Eastern Azerbaijan, North-West of Iran in order to
determine the vector(s) of the disease, during the summer of 2003 sand-flies
were collected using sticky papers, CDC light traps and aspirators. All of the
collected sand-flies were dissected in a drop of normal saline for surveying of
promastigotes. Head and two last abdomen segments of-sandflies were mounted in a
drop of Puri’s Medium for species identification. Totally 215 sandflies were
collected including: Phlebotomus kandelakii (57.2%), P.perfiliewi (18.1%),
P.caucasicus (11.2%), P. sergenti (7.9%), P. papatasi (3.3%) and P.(adlerius)
sp.(2.3%). Only 1 of 24 P. caucasicus species (4.2%) was found naturally
infected with parasite. This is the first infection report of P. caucasicus in
this region. Some behavioral aspects of the mentioned sandfly have been
discussed in details.
