ABOUT BOOK

Sand flies are an ancient group of Diptera estimated to contain 1000 species. Approximately 70 of ~these transmit pathogens (viruses, bacteria and protists), which cause human and animal diseases. ~The most important are the Leishmania parasites, transmitted to humans and animals, during ~blood feeding by female sand flies, and which cause diseases that can be fatal or disfiguring. Sand ~flies are known to use volatile chemicals produced by plants to locate sugar meals, host odours ~to locate a blood meal, and chemicals from decaying vegetation and other sources to identify ~oviposition sites. In a limited number of cases, male sand flies also produce volatile chemicals ~(sex/aggregation pheromones) that are attractive to females and other males. The presence of ~sex/aggregation pheromones is well documented in Lutzomyia longipalpis sensu lato, the South ~American vector of Leishmania infantum, in which they were first identified 40 years ago. During ~this time, a range of behavioural and chemical methodologies have been applied to their study in ~the laboratory and the field. The presence of sex/aggregation pheromones has also been suggested ~in a small number of other New and Old-World vectors, but the evidence is incomplete, as it ~is either solely chemical, i.e. without supporting behavioural evidence or behavioural evidence ~is available, but there is no supporting chemical evidence. Within the Lu. longipalpis s.l. species ~complex, the sex/aggregation pheromones provide a taxonomic guide to the members of the ~complex. There are four different known chemical types (five members of the complex), and one ~of these, the most geographically widespread, has been synthesised in bulk quantity. The synthetic ~pheromone, co-located with insecticide, has been shown to significantly reduce numbers of sand ~flies, and leishmania infection in dogs, the reservoir of human infection, and could significantly ~impact the number of human cases.