Further support for a palaearctic origin of Leishmania

• Main Authors: Sara F Kerr, Robert Merkelz, Christy MacKinnon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2000-08-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: Leishmania mexicana; Sigmodontinae; Muridae; Lutzomyia; coevolution; biogeography
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762000000400022

The fossil record and systematics of murid rodents, reservoirs of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Palaearctic, Oriental, African, Nearctic and Neotropical, strongly support a Palaearctic origin of Leishmania. The fossil record and systematics of phlebotomine sand flies reinforce this idea. Interpretations of molecular data that place the origin of Leishmania in the Neotropical are inconsistent with the natural histories of reservoirs and vectors. The evolutionary pattern of New World rats (Sigmodontinae) indicates that they may be the most important reservoirs of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis throughout their range.