Seasonal and Circadian Dynamics

In temperate climates adults emerge in spring and remain until autumn, with variations between years and climate, notably temperature at varying altitudes (Killick-Kendrick and Killick-Kendrick, 1999). In detail this will include the season from April to October in the Old World. Whereas in tropical and neotropical climate sand fly activity is registered the whole year.
The circadian activity of the adult fly is crepuscular and nocturnal. Many species bite most actively immediately after sunset, but others have been observed to bite after midnight.
For the seasonal activity, between one and two peaks of population can be observed in phlebotomines.
Generally, depending on the area, temperature, humidity and diverse other environmental factors, sand fly activity can vary to a great extent and thus making general considerations in times very difficult.

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Host Seeking Behaviour

In contrast to mosquitoes (and tsetse flies) only minimal data exists in the field of sand fly attraction to the host. Research into olfactory responses of bloodsucking insects to host odours is contributing to a better understanding of vector behaviour as well as to the identification of more effective trapping methods for monitoring or control purposes. For further reading see e.g. Gibson and Torr (1999).
In the field of host seeking behaviour in sand flies, measurements of host preference or anthrophily have mainly been performed by the identification of bloodmeal origin from wild caught female sand flies or the use of human and animal baits (e.g. Christensen and Herrer, 1980; Quinnell et al., 1992; Montoya-Lerma and Lane, 1996; Campbell-Lendrum et al., 1999).
Generally adult phlebotomines reportedly exhibit specific activity periods for events such as host-seeking, sugar- and blood-feeding, mating, and oviposition.

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Host Spectrum

Sand flies possess a wide spectrum of hosts. The most important hosts are rodents, dogs and man, due to the capacity of being a zoonotic reservoir for Leishmania. Apart from these, domestic livestock, other carnivores, as well as reptiles and amphibia also belong to the host spectrum.

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