author(s)
Mohammad Bagher Ghavami, Esmaeil Yarmohammadi, Jamshid Mohammadi, Asghar Fazaeli and Yavar Rassi

abstract
Phlebotomus papatasi is the main vector of leishmaniasis in the Middle East and Iran. Molecular analysis of population and evaluation of sensitivity of different groups of this vector to Leishmania parasite are essential for choosing the vector control measures.Sand fly samples were collected from different parts of Iran and P. papatasi species were identified and their partial Cytb of mtDNA genes was amplified and analyzed to identify different haplotypes. Also, Leishmania infection of samples was tested by partial kDNA. Out of 1922 collected sandflies, 1191 (97/67%) were P. papatasi containing 450 females. Leishmania parasite was detected in 4(1%) of the samples. Sequence analysis of Cytb fragments revealed the existence of 5 haplotypes with haplotype I having the highest frequency. Health related significance of P. papatasi requires further attention by policy makers. Further studies concerning the host preference of this species and monitoring of haplotype I are suggested.