KALA-AZAR VECTOR IN INDIA
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- There is only one sandfly vector of Kala-azar in India Phlebotomus aregentipes.
- Sandflies are small insects, about one fourth of a mosquito. The length of a snadfly body ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 mm.
- Adult is a small fuzzy, delicately proportionate fly with erect large wings. The entire body including wings is heavily clothed with long hairs.
- Life cycle consists of egg, four instars of larvae, pupa and adult. The whole cycle takes more than a month, however, duration depends on temperature and other ecological conditions.
- They prefer high relative humidity, warm temperature, high subsoil water and abundance of vegetation.
- Sandflies breed in favourable micro-climatic conditions in places with high organic matter that serve as food for larvae.
- These are ecologically sensitive insects, fragile and cannot withstand desiccation.
