Biological aspects of crosses between Triatoma maculata (Erichson, 1848) and Triatoma pseudomaculata Corrêa & Espínola, 1964 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Abstract

Due to morphological similarities between Triatoma maculata and T. pseudomaculata, which comprise the "maculate complex", both had been regarded as the same species until 1964. Considering that the studies on triatomine hybridization permit hypotheses formulation concerning origin and divergence of species, enabling a quantitative analysis of taxonomic relationships between species, the present investigation was aimed at broadening further understanding related to the capacity of hybrid production by determining the degree of reproductive isolation between T. maculata and T. pseudomaculata. Our results have demonstrated that T. maculata and T. pseudomaculata showed no differences regarding reproduction patterns and they are able to cross, generating infertile hybrids.

Biological and genetic aspects of experimental hybrids from species of the Phyllosoma complex (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae)

“…As they do not coexist, there would be no features selection (either morphological or behavioral) that could lead to a reproductive isolation between them. This type of behavior has also been recorded for Triatoma maculata Erichson and T. pseudomaculata from Brazil (Belisário et al 2007).…”

Description and characterization of the melanic morphotype of Rhodnius nasutus Stål, 1859 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae)

“…Inter-specifi c crossbreeding experimental studies are very useful for validating the taxonomic status of Triatominae species, even in allopatric species 13 . In the case of the R. prolixus complex, the presence of viable laboratory hybrids has been 12 .…”

Análise das relações taxonômicas e sistemáticas entre espécies de triatomíneos (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) de colônias mantidas pelo Serviço Especial de Saúde de Araraquara, inferida de seqüências do 16S rDNA mitocondrial

“…Outro motivo também, seria a ocorrência de híbridos produzidos pelos cruzamentos entre indivíduos de colônias de T. maculata e T. pseudomaculata (Belisário et al, 2007), principalmente por que T. pseudomaculata, foi erroneamente identificada por mais de um século, antes de ser descrita por Corrêa & Espínola (1964), a partir de insetos procedentes do Estado do Ceará, Brasil e continuaram sendo confundidas, principalmente pelas secretarias de Saúde, mesmo após os trabalhos de Lent & Jurberg (1978), Lent & Wygodzinsky (1979) e de Gonçalves et al (1985) que confirmam as diferenças encontradas, na genitália externa, nos ovos e entre as ninfas das duas espécies.…”