Trapping site 7: Italy

Istituto Superiore di Sanità

Leading Partner

In Italy Istituto Superiore di Sanità settled 18 traps and 8 data loggers, temporal sand fly samplings were conducted in three provinces distributed along Italian peninsula from North-Central regions to southernmost ones, selecting Grosseto, Viterbo and Agrigento in Tuscany, Latium and Sicily regions, respectively. Spatial sand fly data collection efforts were carried out once in Avellino site (NA) Campania region. Fig. 1 Map showing trapping sites distribution.

Trapping sites description characteristics

Nr.	Region	Site	Habitat	Animals presence	Land use
1	Tuscany	Magliano in Toscana (GR)	Farm houses	Cow, horses, dogs, cats, chicken	Rural
2	Latium	Tarquinia (VT)	Dog/ horse shelters	Dogs, horses, cats, donkey	Rural/peri urban
3	Campania	Montella (AV)	City center	Man, domestic dogs	Urban
4	Sicily	Sciacca (AG)	Dog shelters	Dogs, cats	Rural

Description of traps used

Monthly sampling activities by CDC Light traps started in March in Agrigento and in May in Grosseto and Tarquinia provinces for two consecutive nights until November, while at the moment a unique catch in site n.3 in June. Magliano in Toscana site is characterized by farmhouse including a private area of 1,5ha surrounded by fields of wheat, vineyards and olive groves, with livestock, chicken coops, but also dogs and cats and horses that dress pretty masks to avoid insects noise.

Fig.1 Horses with mask to avoid insects noise

Fig. 2 CDC light trap set inside the stable

Fig.3 CDC Inside horse stable in Tarquinia

Fig. 4 Montella site

Fig. 5 CDC inside kennel in Sciacca (AG)

Sand fly collection and analysis

A subsample of collected specimens is morphologically identified by taxonomy keys (Istisan 12/41) mantaining cool chain using refrigerated rack support. Specimens were pooled (max= 30) per date, sex, species and site and stored for further analysis.

Example of procedure

For morphological identification.

Phlebotomus perniciosus

Morphological identification, detail of genitalia on the left, spermathecae in the female on the right, male aedeagus.

Phlebotomus perfiliewi

Morphological identification, detail of genitalia on the left, spermathecae in the female on the right, male aedeagus.

Results

Preliminary results show an over total of almost 90.000 specimens as reported below:

Site	June	July	August	September	October
Magliano in Toscana	2,100	77,634	6,715	4,800	0
Tarquinia	25	29	45	10	0
Sciacca	18	167	113	413	14
Total	2,143	77,83	6,873	5,223	14

Species prevalence

Total trapping effort: 124 traps over sampled period (March-November)
Positive traps to sand flies: 41.9% (52/124)
Total trapped sand flies almost: 90000
Nb of females: 61%
Nb of males: 39%
Sex Ratio F/M: 1.56

Seasonal density peaks

In Magliano in Toscana: Ph. perfiliewi represent the prevalent species, showing 99% among all species identified;
In Tarquinia: Ph. perfiliewi represents about 63% followed by Ph. perniciosus (27%) and Se. minuta (10%);
In Sciacca: Ph. perniciosus is the prevalent species (45%) followed by Ph. perfiliewi (29%) and Se. minuta (26%);
Density peak distributions showed differences in correlation with surveyed sites latitude.