摘要：Summary. - A study was undertaken to establish the susceptibility of two recently colonized sand fly
species, Phlebotomus perniciosus and P. papatasi to some insecticides. A laboratory colony of P. papatasi,
unexposed to insecticides for a period of ten years, was used as reference strain. Bioassay tests were carried
out according to the WHO standard protocols based on the mortality rates recorded at different exposure
times. Serial (from 1 to 60 min) exposures to DDT 2%, lambda-cyhalothrin 0.06% and permethrin 0.2% were
tested on groups of 30 adult sugar-fed female sand flies, for a total of 7 470 specimens. Data were subjected
to probit analysis and the susceptibility was calculated at LT50 and LT95 by comparison with the laboratory
reference strain. The LT50 values for P. perniciosus were 19.9, 3.2 and 6.9 min, and for P. papatasi 18.0, 7.4
and 11.0 min, using DDT, lambda-cyhalothrin and permethrin, respectively. The results showed that two
Italian populations of P. perniciosus and P. papatasi from Campania region and from Rome, respectively, are
susceptible to the insecticides tested as compared with the reference strain used.
