Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases 2322-1984 10 4 2016 10 24 462 473 EN Vahideh Moin-Vaziri Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Ali Oshaghi Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Reza Yaghoobi-Ershadi Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Pupak Derakhshandeh-Peykar Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Reza Abaei Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Fatemeh Mohtarami Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Ali Reza Zahraei-Ramezani Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Aboulhassan Nadim Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2015 11 17 2015 11 17 Background: Phlebotomus sergenti s.l. is considered the most likely vector of Leishmania tropica in Iran. Although two morphotypes- P. sergenti sergenti (A) and P. sergenti similis (B)-have been formally described, further morphologi­cal and a molecular analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtDNA-COI) gene revealed inconsistencies and suggests that the variation between the morphotypes is intra-specific and the morphotypes might be identical species. Methods: We examined the sequence of the ITS2-rDNA of Iranian specimens of P. sergenti s.l., comprising P. cf ser­genti, P. cf similis, and intermediate morphotypes, together with available data in Genbank. Results: Sequence analysis showed 5.2% variation among P. sergenti s.l. morphotypes. Almost half of the variation was due to the number of an AT microsatellite repeats in the center of the spacer. Nine haplotypes were found in the spe­cies constructing three main lineages corresponding to the origin of the colonies located in southwest (SW), northeast (NE), and northwest-center-southeast (NCS). Lineages NCS and NE included both typical P. cf sergenti and P. cf similis and intermediate morphotypes. Conclusion: Phylogenetic sequence analysis revealed that, except for one Iranian sample, which was close to the European samples, other Iranian haplotypes were associated with the northeastern Mediterranean populations in­cluding Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, and Pakistan. Similar to the sequences of mtDNA COI gene, ITS2 sequences could not resolve P. sergenti from P. similis and did not support the possible existence of sibling species or subspecies within P. sergenti s.l.. https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/view/326 https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/download/326/285