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Abstract
Sandflies vary in their distributions and role in pathogen transmission. Attempts to record distributions of sandflies in Thailand have faced difficulties due to their high abundance and diversity. We aim to provide an insight into the diversity of sandflies in Thailand by (i) conducting a literature review, and (ii) DNA barcoding sandflies collected from Wihan Cave where eight morphologically characterized species were recorded. DNA barcodes generated for 193 sandflies fell into 13 distinct species clusters under four genera (Chinius, Idiophlebotomus, Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia). Five of these species could be assigned Linnaean species names unambiguously and two others corresponded to characterized morphospecies. Two species represented a complex under the name Sergentomyia barraudi while the remaining four had not been recognized before in any form. The resulting species checklist and DNA barcode library contribute to a growing set of records for sandflies which is useful for monitoring and vector control.
Acknowledgements
Ping-Shin Lee, Daniel Kong and Khairunnisa Syaripuddin provided laboratory support. The authors are grateful to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (Thailand) for permission to conduct fieldwork at Wihan Cave, Thong Saen Khan district, Uttaradit province, Thailand.
Declaration of interests
The authors report that they have no conflicts of interests.
Data accessibility
DNA sequences: GenBank accessions number KM896675-870.
BOLD dataset DS-WIHARN, BOLD accessions MGOLF001-14–MGOLF196-14