0 BSERVATIONS ON THE PARASITE LEIiSHMANIA MEXICANA AMAZONENSIS AND ITS NATURAL INFECTION OF THE SAND FLY LUTZOMYIA OLMECA NOCIW

Lutzomyia olmeca nociva Young and Arias is a phlebotomine sand fly of the medically important subgenus Nyssomyia, morphologically distinct from the closely related Lu. flaviscs teZZa$a (Mangabeira). These two species are sympatric in the Manaus area of Brazil. Lzl. flavisczcteddata is known to be the principal vector of Leishmania mexicana amazonend Lainson and Shaw in the lower Amazon Basin (1, 2), where it is thought likely to be the only vector of this parasite (3, 4,. Because of the close relation of Lu. 0. nociva to Lu. Javiscutas well as to Lu. o. ol;neca (Vargas and Diaz Najera), the vector of Le. mexicana k mexicana Biagi-we felt that a search for 2 leishmanial parasites in Lu. 0. nociva was + CL justified. In 1984 we initiated a directed

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