Six species of Leishmania are at present known to cause cutaneous and/or mucocutaneous leishamniasis in Brazil, and they are all to be found in the Amazon region of this country. The eco-epidemiology of each is discussed, with the observation that the Amazonian leishmaniases are all zoonoses, with their source in silvatic mammals and phlebotomine sandfly vectors. With man's destruction of the natural forest in southern Brazil, some sandfly species have survived by adapting to a peridomestic or domiciliary habitat in rural areas. Some domestic animals, such as dogs and equines are seemingly now involved in the epidemiology of the disease. No such process has yet been reported in the Amazon region, but may well take place with the continuing devastation of its forest.

Genomic DNA fragments from males of Psychodopygus wellcomei were isolated and shown to be useful as sensitive diagnostic probles for positively separting individuals of this species from those of Ps. complexus. These two members of the Ps. squamiventris series are found sympatrically in foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the hill forests of southern Pará State. Of the two species, only Ps. welcomei is thought to be an important vector of Leishmania braziliensis sensu stricto, buth this is based on circumstantial evidence because of the difficulties of identifying female sandflies wothin the series. The diagnostic probes were isolated from a library of Ps. wellcomei built by ligationg short fragments of Sau 3A-resistricted, genomic DNA into the plasmid vector PUC 18. Differential screening of 1316 library clones with total genomic DNA of Ps. Wellcomei and Ps. complexus identified 5 recombinants, with cross-hybridizing inserts of repetitive DNA, that showed strong specificity for Ps. wellcomei. As little as 0.4% of the DNA extracted from an individual sandfly (=ca. 0.5 namograms) was specifically detected. The diagnostic probes were used to identify as Ps. wellcomei a wild-caught female sandfly found infected with L. braziliensis s.s., providing only the second positive association between these two species.

O protozoário Leishmania (L.) chagasi foi transmitido experimentalmente a um hamster pela picada do flebotomíneo Lutzomyia furcata. Os insetos foram infectados através de uma membrana (pele de pinto), utilizando-se formas amastigotas provenientes do baço de um hamster infectado. O baço foi triturado em sangue de coelho. A L. (L.) amazonensis foi transmitida a um hamster pela picada do flebotomíneo Psychodopygus c. carrerai, previamente alimentado em lesão de pele de um outro hamster infectado com o parasita. O exame desse flebotomíneo, através de microscópio eletrônico, revelou um número pequeno de flagelados degenerados, livres no lumen do intestino anterior.

Lutzomyia furcata transmitted Leishmania chagasi to a hamster 10 days after being experimentally fed on an infected spleen. An individual female Psychodopygus carrerai carrerai that had fed on a hamster lesion caused by Leishmania mexicana amazonensis transmitted this parasite 6 days later to another hamster. Transmission electron microscopy of this fly's head revealed a small number of degenerate promastigotes in the foregut, but only a few were attached.

É apresentado um "levantamento ilustrado" dos 30 flebotomíneos mais comumente encontrados no Estado do Pará, Brasil, usando-se características externas, com as medidas do quinto segmento das palpos, cor do tórax e do abdomen, e medidas da cabeça e do cor po. Com isto é possível, na maioria dos casos, levar à identificação até a espécie. Exis_ tem algumas espécies, entretanto, que são mais difíceis de serem identificadas, particu larmente as fêmeas, havendo nestes casos, necessidade de um exame taxonômico mais deta lhado, para que se possa concluir a identificação. Esta orientação ilustrada é particu larmente útil a técnicos de laboratório, estudantes e entomólogos visitantes.

A pictorial field guide to the 30 species of sandfly most commonly encountered in Pará State is presented, based on the easily recognised external characters of the length of the 5th palpal segment, thoracic infuscation, abdominal colour and head and body size. In most cases this allows identification to the species. In others, especially with females, it gives an indication of the species, which may then be confirmed with data from more detailed taxanomix studies. This type of field guide helps in teaching, rapid sorting of flies prior to dissection and in acquainting visitors with the variety of species present in a given area.A rapid technique for the taxonomic sorting of unmounted, freshly killed female sandflies is required, prior to the dissection of large numbers of a particular species. Such a method is useful in areas where numerous species occur in studies on natural flagellate infections, age determination and for ecological studies. With the above points in mind a pictorial field guide has been designed that enables the identification of unmounted, unmacerated specimens of the 30 more commonly encountered species of phleboto-mine sandflies (***) in Pará State, North Brazil. It is based on the easily recognised external characters of the length of the 5th palpal segment, thoracic infuscation, ad-dominal colour and proboscis and body size.Taxonomy of male phlebotomine sandflies is based on the structure of the genitalia and, as most of this is external, a wholly external character key is readily made. Female taxonomy, however, is based on the internal character of the cibarium, pharynx and sperma thecae. In order to produce an external character key we therefore return to an unso phisticated "phlebotometry" (see Martins et al., 1978 p. 3 for review), using relative lengths of the proboscis, palpal segments and body, along with the degree of infuscation. Ihis idea is not new; indeed many sandfly specialists presently use external characters to separate certain species (H. Fraiha, R. P. Lane, P. D. Ready, D. G. Young and R. D. Ward personal communications 1983 & 1984).A key used to separate five anthropophillic sandflies by Biagi (1966), in Mexico, was based mainly on palpal segment length and infuscation. Floch and Abonnenc (1952) stressed the use of relative lengths of palpal segments in their keys to the sandflies of French Guiana, and four members of the shannoni group have been similarly separated according to the degree of infuscation by Morales et al. (1982). The use of thoracic infuscation as a reliable character seems to be gaining favour, having been used by young & Fairchild (1974) and Ready & Fraiha (1981). Indeed Chariotis 1974) showed the usefulness of thoracic infuscation to sepenate 7 anthropophillic species, during studies onvesicular stomatitis in Panama. Identification using external characters is essential for work on viral isolations from sandflies, where bulk samples of whole sandflies are used.Perhaps the major advantage of a simple visual guide is for teaching purposes. Technical staff in this lnstitute are able to identify most of the species they encounter without having to use the standard, more unwieldly (and in many cases unavailable) internal character keys, and the guides presented below have allowed rapid species sorting prior to the dissection of sandflies in our leismaniasis study areas (Ryan et at. ,1985).

Lutzomyia longipalpis foi alimentado através de membrana com uma suspensão de macerado de fígado e baço em sangue desfibrinado de coelho. Este material foi originário de um hamster infectado com Leishmania chagasi, realimentado em hamsters limpos, transmitindo os parasitos em duas ocasiões. Esta mesma colônia de Lu. longipalpis, do Ceará, foi usada para a primeira transmissão há oito anos e 64 gerações atrás e não teve a capacidade vetorial diminuída.

A closed Lutzomyia longipalpis colony, from Ceará has been used to transmit Leishmania chagasi isolated from a fox in Pará state. The last time this colony was successfully used in similar transmission experiments was eight years (64 generations) ago indicating that this colony of Lu. longipalpis has fully maintained its vectorial capacity in spite of such a long period of maintainance in the laboratory.

Fez-se o registro, na Amazônia, do primeiro caso humano de infecção cutânea mista determinada por duas espécies distintas de Leishmania: a Leishmania braziliensis braziliensis e a Leishmania mexicana amazonensis. As duas amostras, em questão, foram isoladas de lesões distintas de um mesmo paciente, e a caracterização das espécies foi feita com base em observações de infecção experimental em hamsters, comportamento em meios artificiais de cultura, desenvolvimento de infecção experimental em Lutzomyia longipalpis, e eletroforese de isoenzimas em gel de amido. Conclui-se ser de interesse o achado que, combinado com o fato já conhecido de ausência de imunidade cruzada entre a maioria das leishmânias, sugere a necessidade do emprego de uma vacina polivalente para a região.

For the first time, in the Amazon region, a mixed infection of two Leishmania was found in a patient suffering from dermal leishmaniasis. L. mexicana amazonensis was isolated from one lesion and L. braziliensis braziliensis from another. Both parasites were characterized in sandflies, hamsters, in vitro cultures, by their morphology and by isoenzyme studies in starch gel. The Authors conclude that the occurrence of this case combined with the known lack of cross immunity between most leishmanial parasites means that a vaccine for this region must be polyvalent.

Psychodopygus wellcomei, um vetor comprovado de leishmaniose (muco) cutânea, foi pela primeira vez encontrado fora da Bacia Amazõnica, no Estado do Ceará. Evidência parasitológica e entomológica sugere que a Leishmania braziliensis braziliensis transmitida pelo Ps. wellcomei encontra-se largamente espalhada no "Maciço montanhoso do Brasil".

Psychodopygus wellcomei, a proven vector of (muco-)cutaneous leishmaniasis, has been found for the first time outside of the Amazon Basin, in Ceará State. Parasitological and entomological evidence suggests that the Leishmania braziliensis braziliensis/Ps. wellcomei zoonosis is widespread on the Brazilian Shield.

Sumário Isolamento de Leishmania foi obtido de 11 em 18 porcos-espinhos da área geral de Ponta de Pedras, ilha do Marajó. Estado do Pará, Norte do Brasil. Dois dos animais infectados eram Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus), e os outros 9 foram considerados como sendo uma espécie ainda não descrita de Coendou. O parasita está claramente relacionado à L. hertigi Herrer, do porco-espinho do Panamá, C. rothschildi Thomas, porém existem diferenças morfológicas, sorológicas e bioquímicas, que tornam necessária a distinção taxonomica desse organismo. Desta maneira, o novo parasita encontrado no Brasil foi chamado Leishmania hertigi deanei nov. subsp., em homenagem ao Dr. Leonidas Deane, que foi o primeiro a registrá-lo em porco-espinhos do Estado do Piauí, Brasil. Da mesma maneira que a L. hertigi hertigi, a L. hertigi deanei não produz efeitos patológicos visíveis em seu hospedeiro natural. Raros amastigotos, freqüentemente isolados, são encontrados na pele e nas vísceras. Usualmente são detectados apenas in vitro, por cultivo de tecidos em meio de agar-sangue, nos quais a L. h. deanei apresenta crescimento rápido. Tentativas para infectar hamsters e cobaias com forma de amastigotos e de promastigotos não tiveram êxito. O flebótomo vetor do parasita ainda é desconhecido.

Abstract A leishmanial parasite was isolated from 11 of 18 porcupines from the general area of Ponta de Pedras, Island of Marajó, Pará State, north Brazil. Two of the infected animals were identified as Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus), and the other 9 are considered as a hitherto undescribed species of Coendou. The organism is clearly related to L. hertigi Herrer, of the Panamanian porcupine C. rothschildi Thomas, but morphological, serological and biochemical differences necessitate taxonomic distinction. The Brazilian parasite is therefore named Leishmania hertigi deanei nov. subsp., in honour of Dr. Leonidas Deane who first recorded it in porcupines from Piaui, Brazil. Lake L. h. hertigi, L. h. deanei produces no visible pathological effects in its natural host. Scanty amastigotes are scattered, often singly, throughout the skin and in the viscera; usually they can be detected only after the in vitro culture of tissues in "blood-agar medium, in which L. h. deanei grows readily. Attempts to infect hamsters and a guinea-pig with amastigote and promastigote forms were unsuccessful. The sandfly vector of the parasite is unknown.

Sumário São apresentados os resultados preliminares do estudo da fauna flebotomínea (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) da floresta que circunda o Centro de Pesquisa de Humboldt, Aripuanã, Estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil. Foi obtido um total de 712 flebotomíneos, incluindo 26 espécies diferentes, 387 dos quais capturados com isca humana, 317 em troncos de árvores, 4 em armadilha tipo "malaise", 3 com isca-roedor, e 1 com armadilha luminosa. Espécies antropófilas foram muito raras durante os estudos na época seca (agosto e setembro), mas relativamente abundantes durante as investigações no fim da época chuvosa (junho), sugerindo a ocorrência de uma transmissão sazonal de leishmaniose cutânea na área. Lutzomyia anduzei seg. Floch & Abonnenc (1942), foi uma das espécies antropófilas mais comumente encontradas, e, sendo um dos vetores mais importantes da leishmaniose cutânea no Norte do Pará, Brasil, é possível que seja também responsável pela transmissão na área do Aripuanã. 349 fêmeas de flebotomíneos foram dissecadas, tendo sido encontrados: flagelados do tipo promastigoto em 2 Lutzomyia yuilli, e do tipo epimastigoto em um exemplar da mesma espécie; um microsporídio, em 1 Psychodopygus complexus; uma gregarina, provavelmente Monocystis chagasi, em 1 P. davisi; e uma larva de nematódeo, em 1 P. complexus. A inoculação dos flagelados promastigotos na pele de hamster não produziu infecção leishmaniótica, possivelmente por se tratar de estágio de desenvolvimento de qualquer outro parasita, como Endotrypanum, por exemplo. Dois casos de leishmaniose cutânea foram registrados em pesquisadores do Projeto RADAM trabalhando na área de Humboldt, assim como 6 casos de malária, determinados por P. falciparum (3) e P. vivax (3). Finalmente, a grande densidade de piuns (Diptera: Simuliidae) antropófilos, constitui um sério problema na área, obrigando ao uso constante de repelentes.

ABSTRACT The preliminary results are given of studies on the sandfly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) in forest surrounding the Humboldt Research Centre, Municipio of Aripuanã, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. A total of 712 sandflies were obtained, including 26 different species: of these, 387 were caught off human bait; 317 from tree-trunks; 4 in a malaise-trap; 3 in rodent baited oil traps; and 1 in a light-trap. Man-biting species were absent or very rare during studies in the dry season (August and September, 1974), but relatively abundant at the end of the rainy season (June, 1975): this suggests a seasonal transmission of leishmaniasis. The species at present known as Lutzomyia anduzei of Floch & Abonnenc (1942) was a major man-biter, this species is an important vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in North Pará, Brazil, and could be responsible for transmission in Aripuanã. Among a total of 349 female sandflies dissected, promastigote flagellates were found in 2 Lutzomyia yuilli; epimastigote flagellates in 1 L. yuilli; a microsporidian in Psychodopygus (1) complexus; a gregarine, probably Monocystis chagasi, in P. davisi; and a nematode larva in P. complexus. Inoculation of the promastigote flagellates into the skin of hamsters failed to give Leishmania infections: possibly they were developmental stages of some other parasite. Two research workers of Project RADAM acquired cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Humboldt area; and 6 cases of malaria were diagnosed, 3 due to P. falciparum and 3 to P. vivax. Transmission of malaria was shown to be taking place in the camp site itself. Finally, man-biting "black-flies" (Diptera: Simuliidae) were found to be a serious problem, necessitating constant use of insect repellent.

É descrito o encontro de Polychromophilus deanei n. sp. (Haemosporidiidea, Haemoproteidae) em morcêgo Myotis nigricans nigricans (SCHINZ, 1821), capturado no rio Maracapuçu, Município de Abaetetuba, Pará, Brasil. Oocistos maduros foram detectados em espécimens de ectoparasitas Basilia sp., retirados do animal infectado. O parasita em questão constiuti-se, provàvelmente, o mesmo prèviamente descrito por DEANE & DEANE em 1961, em outro gênero de morcêgo (Glossophaga s. soricina) procedente da mesma área em geral.

Polychromophilus deanei n. sp. (Haemosporidiidea, Haemoproteidae) is described from a vespertilionid bat, Myotis nigricans nigricans (SCHINZ, 1821), captured on the Rio Maracapuçu, Município of Abaetetuba, Pará, Brasil. Mature oocysts were found in 2 specimens of the ectoparasite Basilia sp., taken form the infected animal. The parasite is probably the same as that previously described in another bat, Glossophaga soricina soricina, from the same general area, by DEANE & DEANE in 1961.