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Leishmaniasis is a vector borne disease present in two major clinical forms (cutaneous and visceral) in the northern part of Cameroon. The disease is classified as a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization and thus, requires more attention. The aim of this study was to correlate the previously established composition and abundance of sand fly fauna with the putative vector status and the ecological behavior in the Mokolo cutaneous leishmaniasis focus to propose fighting strategies integrating vectors control. Over a 12-month period light traps were used for sand flies' collection in urban, peri-urban and sylvatic environment found in Mokolo, an endemic focus of leishmanisis in northern Cameroon, microscope and taxonomic keys were used for their identification. Nineteen (19) species were identified belonging to the genera Sergentomyia, and Phlebotomus. The influence of human population density on sand fly's species density and composition was assessed trough the evaluation of ecological distribution of sand flies in Mokolo. It came out that, Se. coronula and Se. thomsoni mandarai are strictly wild species and Ph. duboscqi, a domestic species. The other species are generalists.The number of Se. antennata and Se. adami decreases with the increase of the density of human population while Se. distincta, Se. vorax and Ph. duboscqi increase with the density of human population in the study site. Based on its previous reports in the Leishmania transmission in West Africa, Ph. duboscqi should still be considered as the main suspected vector in Mokolo. Ph. duboscqi, Se. distincta, Se. affinis ssp. vorax and Se. schwetzi are highly represented around human dwellings., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Leishmaniasis is endemic in northern Cameroon. However, the sand fly vectors have not been incriminated. A sand fly species inventory was generated by integrating a number of techniques. Miniature light traps were used for collecting sand flies in a variety of ecotopes found across the area, and a morphological and molecular identification approach for taxonomic confirmation was undertaken. In a pilot survey conducted in September 2012, we captured 687 sand flies, 259 of which were morphologically identified to species level. They represent 14 species of the genera Sergentomyia and Grassomyia. No Phlebotomus spp. were found. A second series of collections was carried out during 2013 in five different environmental setups: two urban, two peri-urban/rural and one sylvatic; 14,036 sand flies (6665 males and 7371 females) were collected. A total of 5926 females and 98 males were morphologically identified to species level, representing 19 species of the genera Sergentomyia, Grassomyia and Phlebotomus, including Ph. duboscqi, a known vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the region. Two new taxa were found and are described: Sergentomyia (Sintonius) thomsoni mandarai ssp. nov. and Se. coronula sp. nov. Our study is the first to report the following species in Cameroon: Se. (Sin.) thomsoni (as ssp. nov. mandarai), Se. (Ser.) cincta, Se. (Sin.) affinis ssp. vorax, Se. (Sin.) adami, Se. (Sin.) herollandi, and Se. (Sin.) christophersi. In addition, some morphologically atypical Sergentomyia specimens (combination of Ser. x Sin. traits) were recorded. A checklist of 32 species reports from Cameroon is presented., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)