Sergentomyia sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) were surveyed, for two successive years (May, 2000 to May, 2002) in 4 areas lying within 3 topographically different zones of Asir region, southwestern Saudi Arabia using sticky paper traps. A total of 3273 flies (1787 males and 1486 females) belonging to fifteen Sergentomyia species was collected. Five out of the fifteen species identified were not recorded before in Asir region. These species are S. sonyae, S. palesteinsis, S. schwetzi, S. dreyfussi, and S. squamipleuris. Sergentomyia tiberiadis (Adler, Theodor & Lourie), S. fallax, (Parrot), S. calcarata (Parrot), were the most abundant species regarding density and/or distribution. They represented 26.5, 24.7 and 20% of the total flies collected, respectively. S. christophersi (Sinton), S. Africana (Theodor), S. dreyfussi (Parrot), were less abundant species representing 9.7, 6.4 and 5.4% of the total flies collected, respectively. Meanwhile, S. antennata (Newstead), S. clydei (Sinton), S. magna (Sinton), S. taizi (Lewis), S. sonyae (Lewis), S. palesteinsis (Adler, Theodor), S. schwetzi (Adler, Theodor & Parrot), S. squamipleuris (Newstead) and S. adleri (Theodor) were found in much lower abundance ranging between 0.1 to 1.9% of the total flies collected. The highest abundance of flies were recorded in Al-Magarda areas (29.67 flies / visit) followed by Mohayel area, Abha sector and Rijal Alma’a area (15.36, 12.42 and 8.33 flies / visit, respectively). A high significant difference (P > 0.001) was found between the abundance of Sergentomyia sandflies at low and high altitudes. The highest fly abundance was found in the low land of Tihama (31.84 flies / visit), whereas very low fly densities were observed at higher altitudes of Sarawat mountains and Asir plateau (1.39% and 0.43 flies / visit, respectively). In most cases the density of flies collected indoors was significantly greater than the density of flies collected outdoors (P < 0.001). The monthly abundance of the three dominant species (S. tiberiadis, S. fallax, S. calcarata) as well as the total population of Sergentomyia sandflies were recorded. |
