Taxonomy, ecology and medical relevance of human-biting Leptoconops (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Andaman and Nicobar archipelago with insights on capture methods

CR:

Costal ratio

P/H:

Proboscis/head ratio

PR:

Palpal ratio

NMS:

North, Middle and South Andaman

GN:

Great Nicobar

LA:

Little Andaman

NZC:

National Zoological Collection

ZSI:

Zoological Survey of India

The corresponding author acknowledges DST-SERB Govt. of India (no. CRG/2023/004734) for providing financial assistance for the work. The authors are grateful to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Andaman and Nicobar Islands, for granting permissions to work in the Islands. The authors would also like to thank Dr. C. Sivaperuman (Officer-in-Charge, ANRC, ZSI) for providing logistical and institutional support. Field assistance by local personnel, including Dr. B. Sumit Kumar Rao, Mr. Apurba Kumar Das, Mr. Abhishek Adhikary, Mr. Vivek Horo and Mrs. Moubanti Das, is greatly acknowledged. We also thank Dr. Patrycja Dominiak (Tromsø University Museum; UiT – The Arctic University of Norway) and Dr. Florentina Díaz (CEPAVE, CONICET-UNLP, Argentina) for providing valuable manuscripts. We thank Dr. Bindarika Mukherjee for sharing her expertise on slide mounting techniques, which greatly aided in specimen preparation. We also appreciate Mr. Indranil Samajpati and Dr. Supratim Laha for their helpful suggestions on statistical analyses. We appreciate the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for climatic data support. Mr. Koustav Mukherjee (ZSI SRF) is thankful to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change for providing the research fellowship (vide File no. 210-2/2021/Tech(RS)(Vol-III)/102/2025/5900) and University of Calcutta for giving the facility to register as a Ph.D student.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700053, India

   Koustav Mukherjee, Debdeep Pramanik, Arka Mukherjee, Atanu Naskar & Dhriti Banerjee

Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Atanu Naskar.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics declarations

Although Leptoconops spp. are not known to transmit pathogens, formal approval and experiment protocols for HLC were reviewed and approved by the competent authority of the Zoological Survey of India. All procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations of the Government of India. Written informed consent was also obtained from both adult volunteers prior to their participation in this study.

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