| Abstract
| - Abstract. Between July 1983 and December 1984 natural flagellate infections were found in 114 (1%) of 11 586 female phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) of 21 species. A further 1084 females of 17 other species were not infected. Identification of the organisms on a number of occasions confirms the exclusive parasite/vector relationship of Leishmania mexicana amazonensis/Lutzomyia flaviscutellata and Le. braziliensis braziliensis/Psychodopygus “wellcomei” ∗ The females of Ps. wellcomei are morphologically indistinguishable from those of the sympatric species Ps. complexus. The species name “wellcomei” is placed in inverted commas, therefore, when referring to specimens which could not be distinguished from Ps. complexus, but which were captured in areas where Ps. wellcomei predominates. Ps. wellcomei, without inverted commas, refers to specimens identified as true Ps. wellcomei by rearing male progeny. Some workers treat Psychodopygus as a subgenus of Lutzomyia.. Undescribed or unidentified Leishmania spp. were isolated from Lu. shawi, Lu. ubiquitalis, Lu. whitmani, Ps. hirsutus, Ps. paraensis, Ps.“wellcomei”, and trypanosomes from Lu. nordestina and Lu. trinidadensis. Flagellate infections were recorded in 8 of 21 species examined for the first time, and some were isolated directly from insects into cultures. Le. b. braziliensis was transmitted to a hamster by the bite of a wild-caught, naturally infected Ps. “wellcomei”. 7 of the 35 infected Ps. “wellcomei” were allowed to oviposit and the eggs were reared to adults. Four produced Ps. wellcomei males only, confirming the rôle of this species as the major vector of Le. b. braziliensis.
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