Phlebotomine sand flies play an important role in human diseases mainly as vectors ofrnLeishmania species, the etiologic agent of leishmaniasis. Visceral leishmaniasis is a deadlyrnvector-borne disease that causes an estimated 500 000 new cases and 59,000 deaths every yearrnglobally. The actual death toll from the disease may be higher than this estimate, considering thernexistence of unidentified foci of the disease. Visceral leishmaniasis is distributed throughout thernlowlands with varying degrees of endemicity. The disease is becoming more prevalent in thosernareas where the disease was never reported. Moreover, in some endemic areas the responsiblernsand fly species has not yet been proven. rnA cross-sectional entomological study in a new focus of visceral leishmaniasis was conducted inrnArgude, Hamer woreda from August to December, 2009. A total of 5390 phlebotomine sandrnflies were collected using sticky traps and CDC light traps from outdoors. In the total collection,rn1339 (24.8%) were Phlebotomus species and 4051 (75.2%) were Sergentomyia species. Speciesrnand sex identification were made based on identification keys. Three Phlebotomus species werernidentified which included P. martini (16.5%), P. celiae (6.8%) and P. rodhaini (1.5%) in theirrnorder of abundance. In the Phlebotomus species, the proportion of males was more than femalesrnby both collection methods. The results revealed different trends in the monthly densties of thernthree Phlebotomus species. Markedly high densities of Phlebotomus species were observed inrnthe wet season with the highest peak in October which was attributed to rainfall and humidity.rnBased on sand fly species composition and abundance of the present study and also the relatedrnstudies in other VL foci of Ethiopia, P. martini and P. celiae might play a role in the rntransmission of visceral leishmaniasis in the study area, Argude (Hamer).This assumption needs,rnhowever, to be confirmed by means of further entomological studies to incriminate the species asrnVL vectors.