Establishment, maintenance and productivity of a colony of laboratory from Lutzomyia spinicrassa Morales, Osorno-Mesa, Osorno & Hoyos, 1969 (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Colombia

Lutzomyia spinicrassa is a vector of Leishmania braziliensis. This sand fly has a broad geographical distribution in Colombia and Venezuela and it’s founded mainly in coffee plantations. Methodology: Starting from 600 females of L. spinicrassa captured in field a laboratory colony was established. The development time from egg to adult ranged from 58 to 78 days, 11 weeks in average. Population parameters of five successive generations maintained in groups were compared with a generation reared individually. Results: The following parameters were obtained in each experimental condition: net rate of reproduction (6.92 and 7 females per female per generation), intrinsic rate of population increment (0.17 and 0.18 females per female per week) and finite rate of population increment (1.06 and 1.19 individuals per female per week). Conclusion: These data suggest that the colony of L. spinicrassa had a constant increment during the six analyzed generations.