Experimental infection of Old and New World phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) with Ascogregarina chagasi (Eugregarinorida: Lecudinidae).

The aseptate gregarine, Ascogregarina chagasi (Adler and Mayrink), found in a Colombian strain of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva), was fed to the larvae of seven species of laboratory-bred sand flies: Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli), P. argentipes Annandale and Brunetti, P. perniciosus Newstead, L. serrana (Damasceno and Arouck), L. abonnenci (Floch and Chassignet), L. columbiana (Ristorcelli and Van Ty), and a gregarine-free Brazilian strain of L. longipalpis. Trophozoites of the gregarine were recovered from adult sand flies of four species: P. papatasi, L. serrana, L. columbiana, and the Brazilian strain of L. longipalpis; the parasites were able to complete their life cycle only in the Brazilian strain of L. longipalpis. The infection rate and parasite density of A. chagasi were higher in the Colombian strain of L. longipalpis than in the Brazilian strain. Infection with A. chagasi significantly reduced adult longevity of the Brazilian strain of L. longipalpis, but it had little effect on fecundity.