Lutzomyia adiketis sp. n. (Diptera: Phlebotomidae), a vector of Paleoleishmania neotropicum sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in Dominican amber

Lutzomyia adiketis sp. n. (Phlebotomidae: Diptera) is described from Dominican amber as a vector of Paleoleishmania neotropicum sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae). The fossil sand fly differs from all previously described extinct and extant members of the genus by the following combination of characters: Sc forked with the branches meeting the costa and radius veins; wing L/W value of 4.1; a δ value of 18; a ratio β/α value of 0.86, and the shape and size of the spatulate rods on the ninth sternite. The trypanosomatid is characterized by the structure of its promastigotes, amastigotes and paramastigotes and its transmission by an extinct species of sand fly.Morphological characters show that the fossil sand fly is a new extinct species and that it is host to a digenetic species of trypanosomatid. This study provides the first fossil evidence that Neotropical sand flies were vectors of trypanosomatids in the mid-Tertiary (20–30 mya).Moth flies (Psychodidae) and sand flies (Phlebotomidae) are primitive Diptera [1] often treated as subfamilies [2]. The fossil record of sand flies dates back to Early Cretaceous Lebanese [3,4] and Burmese amber [5]. The Burmese amber sand fly, Palaeomyia burmitis Poinar [5] was transmitting Paleoleishmania protera Poinar & Poinar [6,7], the first described fossil digenetic trypanosomatid parasite. The present study describes a second species of Paleoleishmania carried by an extinct species of Lutzomyia sand fly in Dominican amber.Family Phlebotomidae Kertész 1903Genus Lutzomyia Fran？a 1924Lutzomyia adiketis sp.n. (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4)Length = 1.3 mm; body, legs and antennae light brown.Head; Length, 315 μm; eye bridge absent; length of proboscis, 202 μm; maxillary palp extending well beyond tip of proboscis; length of maxillary palp, 544 μm; palpal formula 1-4-2-3-5; Newstead's scales in oval area on basal half of 3rd palpomere; lengths of palpomeres; 1, 44 μm; 2, 89 μm; 3, 120 μm; 4, 82 μm; 5, 209 μm; ratio of palp segments, 1/2 = 0