Lutzomyia

Lutzomyia is a genus of phlebotomine sand flies consisting of nearly 400 species, at least 33 of which have medical importance as vectors of human disease. Species of the genus Lutzomyia are found only in the New World, distributed in southern areas of the Nearctic and throughout the Neotropical realm. Lutzomyia is one of the two genera of the subfamily Phlebotominae to transmit the Leishmania parasite, with the other being Phlebotomus, found only in the Old World. Lutzomyia sand flies also serve as vectors for the bacterial Carrion's disease and a number of arboviruses.

==Evolution== The genus, named after Adolfo Lutz, is known from the extinct Burdigalian (20–15 mya) species Lutzomyia adiketis found as a fossil in Dominican amber on the island of Hispaniola. It is thought that species in the genus Lutzomyia all originated in the lowland forests to the east of the Andes mountain range, and that their radiation throughout the Neotropics was sparked by dry periods of the Pleistocene, driving colonisation further north and west to areas of higher humidity and leading to reproductive isolation.