CLADISTIC ANALYSIS OF SANDFLIES (DIPTERA: PHLEBOTOMIDAE) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EXTERNAL GENITALIA

Phlebotomidae is a hematophagous dipteran fly and vector of various types of leishmaniasis in India and other parts of the world. The disease has been endemic in the various parts of the country such as Bihar, Jharkhand,West Bengal, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, some part of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and TamilNadu.There are several reports regarding the development of several new foci of the disease in the high elevation of the Himalaya, especially in the Jammu and Kashmir and Northwest Himalaya. Characters of the external male and female genitalia are considered as the most reliable tool in the systematic work (Neglected in the most previous works) and more than 26 characters have been identified for cladistic analysis. An attempt has been made for weighing of the characters and cladistic analysis based on genetalia of sandfly.