Question

Scientific name of sand fly
(a) Ancylostoma
(b) Musca
(c) Phlebotomus
(d) Drosophila

Answer 1

Hint: Sandflies belong to the largest phylum and largest class of the animal kingdom and its scientific name is named by the international union for zoological nomenclature by following binomial nomenclature based on the family it belongs to.

Complete answer:
Sandfly belongs to the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Diptera, family Psychodidae, subfamily Phlebotominae, genus Phlebotomus. Apart from these genera, they also include in blood-feeding organisms genera like lutzomyia whose common habitat is in caves and they live inside the bats. Sandflies with the genus phlebotomus cause a disease called leishmaniasis. They are similar to the mosquitoes in sucking the blood where only female sandflies suck the blood from mammals. Male flies feed on plant sap and nectar in flowers. Sandfly is named according to the rules listed in binomial nomenclature and is named as Phlebotomus papatasi.

Additional information:
- They are oviparous i.e, reproduce by laying eggs, some species lay eggs before sucking the blood for the first time, this type of reproduction is called practise autogenous or partly autogenous while other species suck blood before they lay eggs. This type of reproduction is called anautogenous reproduction.
- Like other blood-sucking organisms, sandflies also suck the blood by using mouthparts but before that they release some biochemicals that prevent clotting of blood.
- Nearly 100 eggs are laid by the female fly in moist soil rich in organic matter for one blood meal.
So, the correct answer is ‘(c) Phlebotomus’

Note:
- For the organisms in the animal kingdom, scientific names are named as per the rules listed in the international union for zoological nomenclature (IUZN) and the international union for botanical nomenclature (IUBN) for the plants.
- The starting letter of the genus should be written in capital letters and for species, it is written in small letters.