Schlein Y, Jacobson R L
Department of Parasitology, the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, POB 12272, Jerusalem 91120 Israel.
J Med Entomol. 2000 May;37(3):319-24. doi: 10.1093/jmedent/37.3.319.
Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli), the vector of Leishmania major (Yakimoff & Schokhor), feeds on plants in desert habitats in the Jordan Valley. At the end of the dry summer, the life span of sand flies is short and the amount of sugars in their guts is small. In this season the plants are under the stress of heat and dehydration. This stress arrests the photosynthesis and decreases the amounts of the main end products, sucrose and starch. We presumed that the paucity of sugars in the sand fly plant tissue diet resulted from the arrest of photosynthesis. To test this assumption, we compared the feeding of sand flies on branches of Capparis spinosa (L.) that had been kept for 24 h in darkness and on branches cut after a normal day of photosynthesis. In darkness, the branches had lost more than half of their sugar content. Afterward they were fed upon overnight by 45.2% of female and 14.3% of male sand flies. A higher proportion of 81.0% females and 38.7% males fed on branches from natural conditions and these fed flies were significantly heavier. Laboratory experiments also showed that plant tissue meals of P. papatasi often include starch grains. Such grains were found also in 50% of field-caught males and females. The nutritive potential of plant tissues was demonstrated by the 33-d median survival of P. papatasi series that had been maintained on fresh C. spinosa branches and water.
巴氏白蛉（Phlebotomus papatasi，斯科波利命名）是硕大利什曼原虫（Leishmania major，亚基莫夫和肖霍命名）的传播媒介，在约旦河谷的沙漠栖息地以植物为食。在干燥的夏季末期，白蛉的寿命较短，其肠道内的糖分含量也较少。在这个季节，植物处于高温和脱水的压力之下。这种压力会抑制光合作用，减少主要终产物蔗糖和淀粉的含量。我们推测白蛉植物组织食物中糖分的缺乏是光合作用受抑制所致。为了验证这一假设，我们比较了白蛉取食在黑暗中放置24小时的刺山柑（Capparis spinosa，L.）枝条与在正常光合作用一天后剪下的枝条的情况。在黑暗中，枝条的糖分含量损失了一半以上。之后，45.2%的雌蛉和14.3%的雄蛉以这些枝条为食过夜。有更高比例的81.0%雌蛉和38.7%雄蛉取食自然条件下的枝条，这些取食的蛉明显更重。实验室实验还表明，巴氏白蛉的植物组织食物中常含有淀粉粒。在50%的野外捕获的雄蛉和雌蛉中也发现了这种淀粉粒。以新鲜刺山柑枝条和水饲养的巴氏白蛉群体的33天中位生存期证明了植物组织的营养潜力。
