Phlebotomine sandflies were tested as potential vectors of avian trypanosomes (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatidae). Lutzomyia longipalpis and Phlebotomus arabicus took bloodmeals with cultured Trypanosoma avium parasites; mature infections with stages transmissible to canaries (Serinus canaria) developed in the sandflies. The infection rates ranged between 66 and 89%, with heavy infections in 24 - 78% fed females. L. longipalpis that fed on infected birds were also infected, and some developed mature infections (37 and 19%, resp). On the contrary, Lutzomyia longipalpis and Phlebotomus arabicus were not susceptible to infection with trypanosomes from T. bennetti clade. Our results, together with the previous findings of naturally infected L. caballeroi, suggest that sandflies could serve as vectors of avian trypanosomes from the T. avium clade.
