Phlebotomus duboscqi, Neveu-Lemaire, 1906

Sadlova, Jovana, Vojtkova, Barbora, Hrncirova, Katerina, Lestinova, Tereza, Spitzova, Tatiana, Becvar, Tomas, Votypka, Jan, Bates, Paul & Volf, Petr, 2019, Host competence of African rodents Arvicanthis neumanni, A. niloticus and Mastomys natalensis for Leishmania major, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 8, pp. 118-126 : 123

3.4. Host choice experiments with P. duboscqi

Two potential host species were offered to P. duboscqi females in each pair-wise comparison. Preliminary experiments showed that P. duboscqi did not distinguish between males and females of A. neumanni and both species of the genus Arvicanthis (smaller A. neumanni and bigger A. niloticus ). Then, different host genera (represented by A. neumanni , M. natalensis and BALB/c mice) were compared: each host combination was tested twice with hosts alternating between lateral cages. Sand fly females showed a high feeding rate on all tested rodents: 40.5–80.5% of females took bloodmeals during experiments ( Table 5). The only significant preference was observed when Arvicanthis was compared with BALB/c mice – sand flies preferred Arvicanthis more than BALB/c mice. On the other hand, no difference was observed between Mastomys and Arvicanthis or Mastomys and BALB/c mice.

Engorged females that took blood meals on different hosts were further followed for comparison of mortality and fecundity. Mortality was assessed until day 4 post bloodmeal and ranged between 5% and 27%, but was not significantly influenced by host types ( Table 5). Four days PBM, females were allowed to oviposit in small glass vials where they were kept individually. Blood source did not influence significantly either the fecundity of fed P. duboscqi females ( Table 5) or the numbers of eggs laid by individual females ( Table 6).