Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague 2, CZ 128 43, Czech Republic.
Parasit Vectors. 2024 Aug 23;17(1):360. doi: 10.1186/s13071-024-06418-y.
Sand fly females require a blood meal to develop eggs. The size of the blood meal is crucial for fecundity and affects the dose of pathogens acquired by females when feeding on infected hosts or during experimental membrane-feeding.
Under standard laboratory conditions, we compared blood meal volumes taken by females of ten sand fly species from four genera: Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia, Migonomyia, and Sergentomyia. The amount of ingested blood was determined using a haemoglobin assay. Additionally, we weighed unfed sand flies to calculate the ratio between body weight and blood meal weight.
The mean blood meal volume ingested by sand fly females ranged from 0.47 to 1.01 µl. Five species, Phlebotomus papatasi, P. duboscqi, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Sergentomyia minuta, and S. schwetzi, consumed about double the blood meal size compared to Migonomyia migonei. The mean body weight of females ranged from 0.183 mg in S. minuta to 0.369 mg in P. duboscqi. In males, the mean body weight ranged from 0.106 mg in M. migonei to 0.242 mg in P. duboscqi. Males were always lighter than females, with the male-to-female weight ratio ranging from 75% (in Phlebotomus argentipes) to 52% (in Phlebotomus tobbi).
Females of most species took a blood meal 2.25-3.05 times their body weight. Notably, the relatively tiny females of P. argentipes consumed blood meals 3.34 times their body weight. The highest (Mbl/Mf) ratios were found in both Sergentomyia species studied; females of S. minuta and S. schwetzi took blood meals 4.5-5 times their body weight. This parameter is substantially higher than that reported for mosquitoes and biting midges.
沙蝇雌性需要吸血才能发育卵子。血餐的大小对繁殖力至关重要，并影响雌性在感染宿主上吸血或在实验膜吸血时获得的病原体剂量。
在标准实验室条件下，我们比较了来自四个属的十种沙蝇物种的雌性吸血量：白蛉属、拉氏疟蚊属、米戈疟蚊属和塞氏疟蚊属。通过血红蛋白测定法确定摄入的血量。此外，我们还称重未进食的沙蝇，以计算体重与血餐重量之比。
沙蝇雌性摄入的平均血餐量范围为 0.47 至 1.01µl。五种物种，即白蛉埃及亚种、白蛉杜氏亚种、拉氏疟蚊、塞氏疟蚊微小亚种和塞氏疟蚊施氏亚种，与米戈疟蚊相比，消耗的血餐量大约是其两倍。雌性的平均体重范围为 0.183mg，在塞氏疟蚊微小亚种中，到 0.369mg，在白蛉杜氏亚种中。雄性的平均体重范围为 0.106mg，在米戈疟蚊中，到 0.242mg，在白蛉杜氏亚种中。雄性总是比雌性轻，雄性与雌性的体重比范围从 75%（在白蛉埃及亚种中）到 52%（在白蛉托比亚种中）。
大多数物种的雌性吸血量是其体重的 2.25-3.05 倍。值得注意的是，相对较小的白蛉埃及亚种雌性吸血量是其体重的 3.34 倍。在所研究的两种塞氏疟蚊中发现了最高的（Mbl/Mf）比值；塞氏疟蚊微小亚种和塞氏疟蚊施氏亚种的雌性吸血量是其体重的 4.5-5 倍。这一参数明显高于蚊子和吸血蠓。
