Sand fly preservation and identification:

Sand flies captured on the sticky paper traps will be removed using small fine brushes; washed in a detergent and water, and finally preserved in 70% ethanol for subsequent processing. Preserved sand flies will be sorted by sex and genus under a binocular dissecting microscope. Phlebotomus sand flies will be counted and then identified to the species level, using standard morphological features described in relevant taxonomic keys (Quate LW, 1964; Kirk & Lewis, 1954; Abonnenc & Minter, 1965; Abonnenc, 1972). Few samples will be processed for the species identification studies using Molecular Biological tools (DNA extraction followed by PCR and subsequent sequencing of the PCR product).