The initial establishment of sandfly colonies.

The initiation of laboratory colonies of phlebotomine sandflies is far more difficult than the maintenance of already established colonies. Based on our experience of setting up more than two dozen colonies, we present an account of the methods which we have found most successful. They include: techniques for collection and feeding wild-caught females: transportation in the field: optimum conditions for oviposition: choice and preparation of larval-rearing pots: larval food: handling adults: and the influence of cage size for sandfly copulation in the laboratory.