Honeydew sugars in wild-caught Italian phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) as detected by high performance liquid chromatography

Phlebotomus perfiliewi perfiliewi Parrott and Phlebotomus perniciosus Newstead (Diptera: Psychodidae,) known vectors of Leishmania infantum were caught in light traps in five different sites in Italy. Sandflies were cryopreserved and transported to the laboratory where they were thawed and aqueous extracts of the crushed flies were analysed for their carbohydrate content using high performance liquid chromatography. Several sugars were detected, including significant amounts of the trisaccharide melezitose, known to be available as a natural source from aphid or coccid honeydew. There was no difference between the analyses of sugar meals of P. p. perfiliewi from different sites within its range, or between P. p. perfiliewi and P. perniciosus. The results indicate that both males and females of P. p. perfiliewi and P. perniciosus feed on honeydew.