DIVERSIDAD DEL GÉNERO Lutzomyia (Diptera: Psychodidae) EN MUNICIPIOS DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE CÓRDOBA -- COLOMBIA.

The estimation of changes in the diversity and composition of insect communities in transmission areas belonging to different life zones, can indicate differential patterns in transmission and associated reservoir fauna, as well as different epidemiological risk scenarios. An example is leishmaniasis, a parasitosis related to the presence of phlebotomine sandflies of the Lutzomyia genus, which in Córdoba (Colombia) presents transmission areas for cutaneous and visceral forms of leishmaniasis, framed in different life zones - Holdridge (Bs-T, Bh-T, among others). The present study aims to estimate the diversity of entomological inventories carried out in different areas with presence of potential leishmaniasis vectors, in 17 localities of ten municipalities of the department of Córdoba, between May 2015 and November 2016. A total of 1695 phlebotomine sandflies represented in 13 species of the genus Lutzomyia were collected. The most abundant species for the department of Córdoba are Lutzomyia evansi and Lutzomyia gomezi, with 30.44 % and 29.62 %, respectively. The presence of Lutzomyia trapidoi is reported for the first time for the territory of Córdoba. With this study, the knowledge of the diversity of the genus Lutzomyia in terms of abundance distribution, true diversities and species composition in active zones of the department of Córdoba is expanded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]