Description and performance of an updraft trap for sandflies

Abstract

An updraft trap for sampling sandflies in the field was developed and tested in the Marigat area of Baringo District, Kenya. The main components of the trap were a 12 cm long plastic drain pipe, 9 V d.c. electric motor, aluminium fan and a perspex sandfly collection cage. Comparisons of the updraft trap with a CDC and a 1 x 1 m polythene sheet coated with castor oil (sticky trap) showed the former was more consistent than the other traps in sampling sandflies from animal burrows. A total of 1241 sandflies belonging to eleven species were collected. Sergentomyia bedfordi, Phlebotomus martini, S. antennatus and P. duboscqi were the commonest species comprising 32.5%, 27.0%, 21.1% and 11.3% of the total catch respectively. However, the relative proportion of the different species varied according to the type of trap used. The CDC trap apparently attracted the known vectors of leishmaniases in the area, P. martini and P. duboscqi. Significantly more male than female P. martini and S. antennatus were collected by the various traps. A significantly higher proportion of female S. bedfordi was captured by the updraft and sticky traps while equal numbers of male and female P. duboscqi were collected in all traps.