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Among the many complex relationships between insects and microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria and parasites, some have resulted in the establishment of biological systems within which the insects act as a biological vector for infectious agents. It is therefore advisable to understand the identity and biology of these vectors in depth, in order to define procedures for epidemiological surveillance and anti-vector control. The following are successively reviewed in this article: Anoplura (lice), Siphonaptera (fleas), Heteroptera (bugs: Cimicidae, Triatoma, Belostomatidae), Psychodidae (sandflies), Simuliidae (black flies), Ceratopogonidae (biting midges), Culicidae (mosquitoes), Tabanidae (horseflies) and Muscidae (tsetse flies, stable flies and pupipara). The authors provide a rapid overview of the morphology, systematics, development cycle and bio-ecology of each of these groups of vectors. Finally, their medical and veterinary importance is briefly reviewed.

The terminology of ecological groups in saproxylic insects (organisms depending on dying or dead wood) is used ambiguously by forest entomologists. We therefore propose a standardized typology of wood-eating groups, based on two crossed factors, i.e. nature and physiological status of woody tissues. We define primary and secondary xylophagous insects (corticiphagous, cambiophagous, xylemophagous), as well as saproxylophagous species. Insects indirectly related to dead wood are classified according to (i) the food regime: consumers of wood-associated resources (xylomycophagous, xylomycetophagous, opophagous), commensals (scavengers), predators, or (ii) the microhabitat users (fongicolous, cavicolous, succicolous).

Arthropoda form the most diversified and multitudinous phyllum of the animal kingdom. In this "arthropod world", the authors give the respective position of the arthropoda: a) detrimental to crops, b) venomous and noxious for human being, but mainly those who are vectors of human diseases, say about a hundred species. Biological, ecological and environmental main features of the most important arthropod vectors of human tropical diseases are reviewed. Various factors acting on the relation between pathological agent and vector and between vector and man are considered. Importance and complexity of entomological surveys are emphasized with, as a consequence, the necessity of specialized medical entomologists to manage them.