[Long-term phenological observations on flies, inhabitants of burrows of great gerbils in the Karshinskaia steppe: Phenology of Phlebotomus papatasi].

Observations conducted over a period of 1960--1973 in the Uzbek SSR have shown that Ph. papatasi has two generations a year. The flight of sand flies in the oasis begins as a rule in the middle of May and lasts to the middle of September with peaks at the beginning of June and the end of July--beginning of August. Shifts in the main phenological dates in the same observation site are no more than two weeks. In desert territories situated southwards from the oasis phenological dates pass ahead those for the oasis for about 10 days. In localities with relatively stable conditions rather great variations in the abundance of this species (3-6fold) from year to year were noted. In hatching places a tenfold increase in the number of Ph. papatasi was observed.