Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a crucial vector-borne disease caused by various species of Leishmania and is transmitted by several species of sandflies. The present study was conducted to describe sand fly fauna on vectors of leishmaniasis and performing molecular identification of Leishmania isolates from them on the Iran–Iraq border. Entomological surveys were done from May to October 2016–2018 in 2 counties (Mehran and Dehloran) of Ilam province, west of Iran. Sandflies were collected by 40 Sticky Traps at each station. Samples were mounted for species identification using morphological characters of the head and abdominal terminalia. DNA was extracted from Phlebotomus papatasi females, and Leishmania isolates were identified through PCR on minicircle kDNA, followed by sequencing. A total of 5592 sandflies including 2 genera of Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia comprising 8 species of sand flies …
