1. Understanding and predicting the geographic distributions of phlebotomine sand flies in and around EuropeDanyang Wang, Anouschka R. Hof, Kevin D. Matson, Frank van Langevelde, Edwin Kniha, Vít Dvořák, Ognyan Mikov, Ivelina Katerinova, Simona Tchakarova, Maria Antoniou, Jorian Prodhomme, Denis Sereno, Vladimir Ivović, Katja Adam, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Climate and land-use changes influence the transmission of vector-borne diseases by affecting the distribution and survival of disease vectors. Numerous diseases are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae), including leishmaniasis. Several major sand fly-borne diseases are responsible for high global disease burdens and high socio-economic costs. In Europe, over 20 known sand fly vector species are largely confined to the Mediterranean Basin, yet records of sand fly presence further north increase. Global warming is predicted to drive the spread of sand flies to large areas of Europe in the 21th century, an effect likely to be exacerbated by anthropogenic factors. However, the constraints to the geographic distributions of sand flies are not well understood. This study aims to increase the understanding of the drivers of the geographic distributions of sand flies, using species distribution modelling to systematically test links between sand fly occurrences and climatic, land-use, lithological, biodiversity and human population variables in Europe and adjacent Mediterranean regions. We found that moisture is the most important environmental variable both in explaining and in predicting sand fly occurrences. The projected suitable habitats are larger than the current known sand fly distributions, and these habitats are expected to expand due to changes in climate and land-use.
Keywords: climate change, land-use, moisture, phlebotomine sand fly, species distribution modelling, suitable habitat
Published in RUP: 06.11.2025; Views: 330; Downloads: 8
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2. Reconstructing the post-glacial spread of the sand fly Phlebotomus mascittii Grassi, 1908 (Diptera: Psychodidae) in EuropeEdwin Kniha, Vít Dvořák, Stephan Koblmüller, Jorian Prudhomme, Vladimir Ivović, Ina Hoxha, Sandra Oerther, Anna Heitmann, Renke Lühken, Anne-Laure Bañuls, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Phlebotominae) are the principal vectors of Leishmania spp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae). In Central Europe, Phlebotomus mascittii is the predominant species, but largely understudied. To better understand factors driving its current distribution, we infer patterns of genetic diversity by testing for signals of population expansion based on two mitochondrial genes and model current and past climate and habitat suitability for seven post-glacial maximum periods, taking 19 climatic variables into account. Consequently, we elucidate their connections by environmental-geographical network analysis. Most analyzed populations share a main haplotype tracing back to a single glacial maximum refuge area on the Mediterranean coasts of South France, which is supported by network analysis. The rapid range expansion of Ph. mascittii likely started in the early mid-Holocene epoch until today and its spread possibly followed two routes. The first one was through northern France to Germany and then Belgium, and the second across the Ligurian coast through present-day Slovenia to Austria, toward the northern Balkans. Here we present a combined approach to reveal glacial refugia and post-glacial spread of Ph. mascittii and observed discrepancies between the modelled and the current known distribution might reveal yet overlooked populations and potential further spread.
Keywords: Phlebotomus mascittii, modeling, Europe
Published in RUP: 06.10.2025; Views: 270; Downloads: 5
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3. Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in eight Balkan countries : historical review and region-wide entomological surveyVít Dvořák, Ozge E. Kasap, Vladimir Ivović, Ognyan Mikov, Jovana Stefanovska, F. Martinković, Jasmin Omeragić, Igor Pajović, Devrim Baymak, G. Oguz, 2020, original scientific article Keywords: Phlebotomine, sand fly, Balkans, species, morphology
Published in RUP: 24.12.2020; Views: 2805; Downloads: 37
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4. Integrative approach to Phlebotomus mascittii Grassi, 1908 : first record in Vienna with new morphological and molecular insightsEdwin Kniha, Vít Dvořák, P. Halada, Markus Milchram, Adelheid G. Obwaller, Katrin Kuhls, Susanne Schlegel, Martina Köhsler, Wolfgang Poeppl, Vladimir Ivović, 2020, original scientific article Keywords: transphlebotomus, Central Europe, autoimmunofluorescence, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, genotyping, leishmaniasis
Published in RUP: 17.12.2020; Views: 3318; Downloads: 47
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5. Exploring Balkan sand fly fauna using maldi-tof mass spectrometryK. Hlavackova, Vít Dvořák, Petr Volf, P. Halada, Bulent Alten, Vladimir Ivović, Jasmin Omeragić, Igor Pajović, F. Martinković, 2016, published scientific conference contribution abstract Published in RUP: 18.05.2018; Views: 9507; Downloads: 83
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6. Direct evidence for an expanded circulation area of the recently identified Balkan virus (Sandfly fever Naples virus species) in several countries of the Balkan archipelagoNazli Ayhan, Bulent Alten, Vladimir Ivović, Vít Dvořák, F. Martinković, Jasmin Omeragić, Jovana Stefanovska, Dusan Petric, Slavica Vaselek, Devrim Baymak, Ozge E. Kasap, Petr Volf, Remi Charrel, 2017, original scientific article Keywords: Bunyaviridae, Phlebovirus, Arbovirus, Toscana virus, meningitis, fever, Sand fly, phlebotomus, phylogeny, emergence
Published in RUP: 30.03.2018; Views: 4471; Downloads: 185
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7. Re-emergence of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Greek island of CreteVasiliki Christodoulou, Maria Antoniou, Pantelis Ntais, Ippokratis Messaritakis, Vladimir Ivović, Jean-Pierre Dedet, Francine Pratlong, Vít Dvořák, Yiannis Tselentis, 2012, original scientific article Keywords: Leishmania tropica MON-300, L. infantum, Phlebotomine sand flies, Crete
Published in RUP: 15.10.2015; Views: 4021; Downloads: 120
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