A group of 18 research workers involved in different aspects of the biology of
Lutzomyia longipalpis
discussed
whether or not it is important to give taxonomically valid names to populations that have been defined by biological,
biochemical and molecular methods to be reproductively isolated. The type material of this medically important species
has been lost and because of this it was recommended that a colony should be established from insects captured
in the region of the type area and that their description should serve as the basis for future descriptions. It was pointed
out that there is a lack of uniformity in the naming of closely related American sand flies and that some of the differences
between populations of
Lu. longipalpis are greater than those between accepted species. The majority of the
participants agreed that the populations that have been defined in the literature as sibling s pecies should be named.
