Morfometria comparada de Triatoma infestans, T. rubrovaria e T. platensis (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) do Uruguai

Abstract

Neiva, 1913, that although being a wild species can cohabit with T. infestans in chicken coops. These three species, belong to "T. infestans complex", wich is composed by five species. Because the epidemiological importance of these species in Uruguay and, with the aim to increase morphological parameters, we present here a comparative morphometric approach from head and pronotum. A series of four head and four pronotum measurements were taken from 50 males and 50 females, from each species, reared in laboratory. All calculations used JMP software, throughout Principal Component Analysis and Discriminant Analysis. Results demonstrate that the first principal components display 77% of total variation. The best characters to distinguish these species are: anteocular region (RAO) and postocular region (RPO), indicating that head morphometry was more useful than pronotum morphometry to revealed differences among these species. The discriminant analysis provides a discrimination function able to separate T. platensis and T. rubrovaria but not T. infestans. KEYWORDS.Systematics, morphometry, Triatominae, Chagas'disease. RESUMO.No Uruguai, são conhecidas 10 espécies de triatomíneos com importância epidemiológica variável, dentre as quais destacamse Triatoma infestans (Klug, 1834) e T. rubrovaria (Blanchard, 1843), consideradas as principais espécies vetoras. Triatoma platensis Neiva, 1913, apesar de ser uma espécie silvestre, pode conviver com T. infestans em galinheiros, chegando a gerar híbridos férteis. Estas três espécies fazem parte do "complexo T. infestans", formado por cinco espécies. Devido à importância epidemiológica dessas espécies no Uruguai e com a finalidade de ampliar o conjunto dos parâmetros morfológicos diferenciais destas espécies apresentamos uma abordagem morfométrica comparativa da cabeça e do pronoto. Foram medidas quatro variáveis da cabeça e quatro do pronoto a partir de 50 machos e 50 fêmeas, de cada espécie, provenientes de criação de laboratório. O programa JMP foi utilizado para as análises de Componentes Principais (ACP) e Discriminante (AD). Os resultados demonstraram que os dois primeiros componentes principais (CP1 e CP2) exibem aproximadamente 77% da variação total. Os caracteres mais importantes para a distinção das espécies foram a região anteocular (RAO) e a região pós-ocular (RPO), indicando que a morfometria da cabeça se mostrou mais eficiente que o pronoto para diferenciar estas espécies. A análise discriminante possibilitou separar T. platensis e T. rubrovaria mas não foi capaz de separá-las de T. infestans.

Identifying Chagas disease vectors using elliptic Fourier descriptors of body contour: a case for the cryptic dimidiata complex

“…The use of EFDs has been little explored, though on several occasions it has demonstrated its ability to discriminate among even closely related species [65,66]. Even more, some studies with triatomines [27,53] and other insects of medical importance [27,[67][68][69] When using the inversion of the Fourier transforms, it was possible to visualize that the greatest differences in contour shape between the haplogroups were found in the pronotum and the head. Both structures have been used in morphometric studies, both traditional and geometric, because important variations in their shape have been detected [7,14,40].…”

Ultrastructure and morphometry of eggs of Triatoma rubrovaria (Blanchard, 1843), Triatoma carcavalloi Juberg, Rocha & Lent, 1998 and Triatoma circummaculata (Stål, 1859) (Hemiptera-Reduviidae-Triatominae)

“…In its natural environment this species lives in rocky fissures and invades human living quarters when its own environment is intensely altered by man and also when T.infestans is eliminated from a household, leaving an empty available niche to be filled (Salvatella et al 1995, Almeida et al 2000, Oscherov et al 2004, Santos et al 2009). Triatoma rubrovaria gradually adapts to the peri-household and colonizes the intra-household, becoming an important secondary vector (Salvatella et al 1994, Almeida et al 2002.…”