Medical and Veterinary Entomology (1988) 2 , 4 7 4 5 The phlebotomine sandflies of Venezuelan Amazonia M. DORA FELICIANGELI, JAIME RAMIREZ PEREZ* and ALIRIO RAMIREZ* Centro de Investigaciones BiomCdicas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Carabobo, Ndcleo Aragua, Venezuela, and *Institute Nacional de Dermatologia, Secci6n de Estudio de Vectores, Villa de Cura, Venezuela ABSTRACT. Phlebotomine sandflies were surveyed in two ecologically contrasted areas, the northern moist and southern wet tropical forests, of the Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela. Three new taxa and twenty-one new records were added to the pre- viously known species list for Venezuelan sandflies, which now totals eighty species. Both sexes of Lutzomyia (Psychodopygur) killicki sp.n., L. (Trichophoryomyia) bettinii sp.n., L. (Nyssomyia) olmeca reductu subsp.n. and and the females of L.berna1ei Osorno et al., Brumptomyia pinfoi Costa Lima and L.begonae (Ortiz & Torres) are described and illustrated. Key words. Amazonia, Venezuela, sandfly fauna, Phlebotominae, Lutzomyia, tropical forest, biogeography. Introduction The first phlebotomine sandflies reported from Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela, were those listed by Pifano et al. (1973) from Sierra Parima: Lutzomyia flaviscutellata (Mangabeira, 1942), L.pifonoi (Ortiz, 1972), L.gibsoni (Pifano & Ortiz, 1972) and L.parimaensis (Ortiz & Alvarez, 1972). In 1975, L.begonae (Ortiz & Torres) was described from El Gavilin. Ramirez Perez et al. (1976) later reported additional species from Ocamo (Atabapo): L. convifi Ramirez Perez, Martins & Ramirez, 1976; L.antunesi (Coutinho, 1939); Llutziana (Costa Lima, 1932); L. ubiquitalis (Mangabeira, 1942) and Brumptomyia avellari (Costa Lima, 1932). Correspondence: Dr M. Dora Feliciangeli, Centro de Investigaciones Biomedicas (BIOMED), Facultad Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Carabobo, NQcleoAragua, Apdo. 4944, Maracay, Venezuela. The taxonomic status of three of these remains in doubt: Martins etal. (1978)consider L.pifanoi and Lgibsoni to be junior synonyms of L.shan- noni (Dyar. 1929) and L.fucheri (Pinto, 192l), respectively, and they include L.parimaensis among the 'inadequately described species'. Unfortunately, because the holotypes of these three nominal species are apparently lost, it is not possible to clarify their identity and status. We recently examined sandflies collected by various methods (see below) from two different ecological areas in Territorio Federal Amazonas: the Tropical Moist Forest in the northern part of the State, sites at San Juan de Manapiare (05"19'N, 66"03'W), Caiio Marieta, Cafio Mosquito (05"10'N, 66'50'W) and El Gavilin (05'35'N, 67"20'W), 100-140 m a.s.l., coll. A Ramirez & A. Bravo 13-16.ix.1984; and the Tropical Wet Forest in the southern part of the State near the Venezuela-Brazil border, at the foot of the 47