The phlebotomine fauna is highly varied in três Braços, an endemic area american cutaneous leishmaniasis, situated in the cacao growing region in the southeast of Bahia State, brazil. Thirty species of the Lutzomyia genus were identified in 13,535 spcecimens collected between 1976 and 1984. Lutzomyia whitmani was the dominant species accounting for 99% or flies in the periodomicile and 97.5% of those caught in homes. In the forest the predominant species were Lu. ayrozai and Lu. yulli. Lu whitmani accounted for only 1.0% of the specimens examined. Lu. flaviscutellata, the proven vector of Leishmania mexicana amazonensis, was also collected in small numbers, I.u. wellcomei, a known vector of L. braziliensis braziliensis in the Serra dos Carajás, Pará, Brazil was not encountered in the Três Braços region where the parasite causing human infections is usually L.b. braziliensis. Although we have not encountered a natural infection with leishmanial promastigotes in 1.832 females of the various species examined, we discuss the probability that Lu. whitmani is the vector of L.b braziliensis in the region mantaining transmission in dogs and man.
American cutaneous leishmaniasis; epidemiology; phlebotomine fauna