Breeding places of Phlebotomus argentipes Annandale and Brunetti (Diptera: Psychodidae) in West Bengal, India.

A search for the breeding places of Phlebotomus argentipes Annandale and Brunetti was undertaken in West Bengal during 1988-1990. Sugar flotation technique was applied for the isolation of larvae from the collected soil samples and emergence trap and sticky paper trap were used for the collection of adults. Soil incubation method was followed for the collection of emerged adults from the soil sample. A total 131 soil samples were analysed by flotation technique which produced 19 immature stages--7 from indoor and 12 from outdoor habitat. Soil incubation technique produced 38 adults of which 18 from indoor and 20 from outdoor. With the help of emergence trap 26 and 43 flies were collected from indoor and outdoor respectively. The number of immature stages and adult flies recovered from the outdoor showed higher recovery during post-monsoon months and lower in pre-monsoon and monsoon months. The result of this investigation indicated that probably the majority of the indoor catches are due to the migration of outdoor-produced sandflies specially in close surroundings where dried cow dung droppings were left. The necessity of spraying in these close areas in addition to indoor areas has been indicated to control the sandflies by antilarval measure.