The susceptibility of the sandfly Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva), diptera, phlebotomidae, to laboratory infection with bluetongue virus.

Bluetongue virus multiplied in the sandfly Lutzomyia longipalpis after intrathoracic inoculation but not after oral ingestion of virus. The level of virus multiplication was lower than that observed in similar experiments with the North American vector of bluetongue, Culicoides variipennis. Inoculated sandflies did not transmit virus after 6 to 9 days incubation at 25 degrees C. It is unlikely that L. longipalpis would be important in the maintenance of bluetongue virus in the wild.