Genetic structure of local populations of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) in central Colombia

Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva), the sand By vector of American visceral leishmaniasis in the New World tropics, has a broad but discontinuous geographical distribution from southern Mexico to Argentina. A baseline for population genetic structure and genetic variability for this species was obtained by analyzing 5 local, peridomestic populations at the approximate center of its distribution, the Magdalena River Valley of central Colombia. Three populations of L. longipalpis from El Callejon, a small rural community, were compared with 2 populations from neighboring areas 12 and 25 km distant for genetic variation at 15 isoenzyme loci. The mean heterozygosity ranged from 11 to 16%, with 1.2 to 2.3 alleles detected per locus. Nei's genetic distances among the populations were very low, ranging from 0.001 to 0.007. Gene Bow estimates based on F-ST indicated high levels of gene flow among local L. longipalpis populations, with minimal population substructuring.