Phlebotomine fauna in the urban area of Timóteo, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This work is characterized by an entomological research and an investigation on whether seasonalbehaviours can be associated to the phlebotomine fauna found in the urban area of Timóteo-MG – anendemic focus of tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL). The analysis of the seasonal behaviour of sand flies hastaken into account the following climatic variables: rainfall, relative humidity and temperature. Auto-matic light traps were installed in households between 2009 and 2010. The sand fly species with thehighest number captured was Lutzomyia whitmani (66.5%), a TL vector species, whose abundance hasprovided strong evidences that this species is the main vector of TL in the municipality of Timóteo, withits cycle of transmission developing in its urban area. Amongst the results observed in the analyses of sea-sonal behaviour, only temperature conveyed particular association between seasonal occurrence of sandflies and climate variables. The findings of this study may assist the local epidemiological surveillanceagency in defining strategies and directing efforts for controlling these insects