Breeding habitats of vector sandflies and their control in India.

In India Phlebotomus argentipes and Phlebotomus papatasi are the proven and suspected vectors of visceral leishmaniasis respectively. In the past, only a few samples from the field yielded sandfly immatures though there were many adults in the vicinity. This might be because of dearth of information on the various factors influencing the oviposition of the gravid females as well as survival and development of immatures. Therefore, available information on these aspects has been reviewed so as to highlight the imperative of undertaking further studies on the ecology of immatures in field conditions.