Diversity of phlebotomine sand flies and molecular detection of trypanosomatids in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This study aimed to describe the sand fly fauna and detect trypanosomatids in these insects from Casa Branca, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, an endemic area of both visceral (VL) and tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL). Sand flies were collected bimonthly from May 2013 to July 2014, using automatic light traps exposed for three consecutive nights in peridomiciliary areas of nine houses with previous reports of VL and TL. ITS1-PCR and DNA sequencing were performed for trypanosomatids identification. A total of 16,771 sand flies were collected belonging to 23 species. The most abundant species wasNyssomyia whitmani(Antunes & Coutinho, 1939) (70.9%), followed byLutzomyia longipalpis(Lutz & Neiva, 1912) (15.2%) andMigonemyia migonei(Franca, 1920) (9.1%).Leishmania amazonensisDNA was detected inNy.whitmani(four pools) andLe.braziliensisDNA was detected inPsychodopygus lloydi(one pool). In seven pools ofNy.whitmaniand in one pool ofLu.longipalpispositive forLeishmaniaDNA, the parasite species was not determined due to the low quality of the sequences. Moreover, DNA ofHerpetomonasspp. was detected inNy.whitmani(two pools) and Cortelezzii complex (one pool). DNA ofCrithidiaspp. was detected inNy.whitmaniandPs.lloydi(both one pool). Our results suggest thatNy.whitmanimay be involved in the transmission ofLe.amazonensisin the study area. The molecular detection ofLe.amazonensissuggests the presence of this species in a sylvatic cycle between vertebrate and invertebrate hosts in the region of Casa Branca. Our data also reveal the occurrence of other non-Leishmaniatrypanosomatids in sand flies in Casa Branca District.