ABSTRACT
Importance and physical description Sand flies are small and delicate bloodsucking flies (Figure 13.1) in the family Psychodidae that transmit the causative agents of bartonellosis (Carrión’s disease), sand fly fever, and leishmaniasis. Aside from their disease transmission potential, sand flies may cause considerable irritation by their biting alone (nuisance effect). Adult flies are long-legged, about 3 mm long, and golden, brownish, or gray in color. Females have long, piercing mouthparts adapted for bloodsucking. One way to distinguish sand flies from other similarly shaped gnats is the way they hold their wings V-shaped at rest. They have long, multisegmented antennae and hairs (not scales) covering much of the body and wing margins.
