Quantitative phenetics and taxonomy of some phlebotomine taxa

Elucidating the evolution of #Phlebotominae$ is important not only to revise their taxonomy, but also to help understand the origin of the genus #Leishmania$ and its relationship with humans. Our study is a phenetic portrayal of this history based on the genetic relationships among som New world and Old World taxa. We used both multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and morphometry on 24 male specimens of the Old World genus #Phlebotomus$ (with three of its subgenera : #Phlebotomus$, #Spelaeophlebotomus$ and #Australophlebotomus$), and on 67 male specimens of the three New World genera, #Warileya$, #Brumptomyia$ and #Lutzomyia$, (with three subgenera of #Lutzomyia$ : #Lutzomyia$, #Oligodontomyia$ and #Psychodopygus$). Phenetic trees derived from both techniques were similar, but disclosed relationships that disagree with the present classification of sand flies. The need for a true evolutionary approach is stressed. (Résumé d'auteur