Sandfly
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Sand fly or sandfly is a colloquial name for any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking Dipteran that is encountered in sandy areas.
In the United States, sand fly may refer to those horse flies also known as "greenheads" (family Tabanidae), or to members of the family Ceratopogonidae, also known in Florida and elsewhere as a sandflea, no-see-um, no-see-em, noseeum, sand gnats, punkie, or punky. Essentially any fly that one can find on a beach will be called a "sand fly" in the U.S.; some of these insects are a type of midge, which do not even bite.
Elsewhere in the world, the name sand fly is used to refer to members of the subfamily Phlebotominae within the Psychodidae, including the primary vectors of leishmaniasis and sandfly fever. In the New World, leishmaniasis is spread by sand flies of the genus Lutzomyia. In the Old World, the disease is spread by sandflies of the genus Phlebotomus.
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