Investigation of the Sandfly Fauna of Central Arid Areas and Northern Humid Regions of Tunisia, with Morphological and Molecular Identification of the Recently Established Population of <i>Phlebotomus</i> (<i>Larroussius</i>) <i>perfiliewi</i>
Ifhem Chelbi,
Amani Abdi,
Jérôme Depaquit,
Wasfi Fares,
Mohammed Abdo Saghir Abbas,
Khalil Dachraoui,
Elyes Zhioua
Affiliations
Ifhem Chelbi
Unit of Vector Ecology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, 13 Place Pasteur BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
Amani Abdi
Unit of Vector Ecology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, 13 Place Pasteur BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
Jérôme Depaquit
Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, ANSES, SFR Cap Santé, EA4688 ESCAPE–USC «Transmission Vectorielle et Épidémiosurveillance de Maladies Parasitaires (VECPAR)», 51 rue Cognacq-Jay, CEDEX, 51096 Reims, France
Wasfi Fares
Unit of Vector Ecology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, 13 Place Pasteur BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
Mohammed Abdo Saghir Abbas
Unit of Vector Ecology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, 13 Place Pasteur BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
Khalil Dachraoui
Unit of Vector Ecology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, 13 Place Pasteur BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
Elyes Zhioua
Unit of Vector Ecology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, 13 Place Pasteur BP 74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
Based on nucleotide sequences, we re-identified representative samples of Phlebotomus perfiliewi originating from two different biogeographical areas of Tunisia, whose populations had previously been identified based on morphological criteria. A partial region of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene was targeted, and sandfly species was determined by analogy with DNA sequences available in the GenBank database via a BLAST analysis, taking into account the query coverage and percentage identity. The recognized species presents the most substantial homology with the analyzed sequence. The results of the molecular identification showed complete agreement with the morphological identifications, and Phlebotomus perfiliewi is genetically variable.
