Species Composition and Seasonal Activity of Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Paveh County, West of Iran

Phlebotomine sand flies are biological vectors of leishmaniasis in Iran and many other countries. In order to determine fauna and seasonal activity of sand flies, an investigation was carried out in Paveh County, Kermanshah Province, west of Iran. Using sticky traps sand flies collected in 5 sites of Paveh County from May to October of 2015. Activity of sand flies started in late April and ended in early October. Totally 2110 (71.1% male and 28.9% female) phlebotominae were collected from outdoors (64.6%) and indoors (35.4%) respectively. Twelve species in two genera were identified including: Phlebotomus alexandri, Ph. Sergenti, Ph. papatasi, Ph. major, Ph. tobbi, Ph. brevis, Sergentomyia sintoni, S. dentata, S. antennata, S. palestinensis, S. pawlowskyi and S. tiberiadis. Phlebotomus alexandri was predominant species in the region with 50% all of collected sand flies and Ph. brevis comprised only 0.04% of specimens. Due to documented report of seropositive cases of visceral leishmaniasis in Paveh County and presence of proven vectors in this area, further studies on epidemiological and entomological aspects of disease are recommended.