Utilização de armadilha de emersão em ambiente urbano – resultados preliminares

The incidence of leishmaniasis is becoming increasingly widespread in Brazil. For the epidemiological surveillance of these endemics, it is essential to know the distribution and behavior of the phlebotomine vectors, which have increasingly wider geographical distribution and are highly adapted to the urban environment. They live, preferably, at the level of organic matter rich soil, next to the vegetation in roots and/or tree trunks or animal waste while they can also be found in burrows and shelters of both domestic and wild animals. The location of breeding sites is usually extremely difficult, even in places with many adult mosquitoes. This difficulty is probably due to the wide dispersion of breeding sites and lack of knowledge about its features. Soil emergence traps are a viable method for identifying these sites and helping to establish measures for controlling the immature form of the vector, since it is difficult to control the adult vector. In order to identify the natural breeding sites of sandflies in Paulista/SP (22°35'56''S, 48°48'0''W), 102 emergence traps, based on the model and methodology described by Casanova (2001), were set monthly between November 2012 and March 2013, in 30 houses. The houses were determined by intentional non-probability sampling, characterized by green areas and dirt floors, high levels of shade and moisture, presence of decaying organic matter plus the presence of animals. We captured 1,226 insects belonging to the orders Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Collembola and Orthoptera. Of this total, 12 flies of the subfamily Phlebotominae were observed; however, it was not possible to identify the species due to the poor conservation of insects. Fungi growth was observed in various traps while others were damaged by the action of "African snails" (Achatina fulica).