Biological aspects of crosses between Triatoma recurva (Stål), 1868 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) and other members of the Phyllosoma complex

Abstract

The degree of reproductive isolation between Triatoma recurva (Stål) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) and the six species of the genus Meccus plus T. mexicana (Herrich-Schaeffer) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) was examined. Fertility and the segregation of morphological characteristics were examined in two generations of hybrids from crosses between these species. The percentage of couples with offspring (fertile) was low in the vast majority of sets of crosses, with the exception of that between T. recurva female and M. phyllosomus male. In all studied sets of crosses, no first-(F1) or second-(F2) generation individuals were morphologically similar to T. recurva but instead shared the morphology of the other parental species. A similar phenomenon was observed in the three successful sets of backcrosses. These results indicated that different recorded levels of reproductive fitness among T. recurva and the species of Meccus involved in this study, plus T. mexicana, are present and that they were apparently influenced by differing mechanisms of isolation. The presence of some degree of reproductive compatibility between studied triatomines of distinct genera (Meccus spp. and Triatoma spp.) reinforces the need for generic revision of the tribe Triatomini. Journal of Vector Ecology 40 (1): 117-121. 2015.

Biological parameters of Meccus phyllosomus phyllosomus (Burmeister), 1835, Triatoma recurva (Stål), 1868 (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) and their laboratory hybrids

“…Dado que algunos análisis moleculares (7,8) han establecido que T. recurva es filogenéticamente cercana a las subspecies de Meccus, en un estudio se entrecruzaron (incluidos cruces inversos) estas seis subspecies con T. recurva, con un único cruce exitoso: el de ♀ T. recurva y ♂ M. p. phyllosomus (9).…”

Pattern of climate connectivity and equivalent niche of Triatominae species of the Phyllosoma complex

“…This could be related to their climatic niche breadth and to the fact that both are distributed within in the Nearctic region (Ramsey et al ., 2015). Triatoma recurva is one of the species with which successful crossing with other members of this complex has been recorded (Martínez‐Ibarra et al ., 2015; Valenzuela‐Campos et al ., 2018); therefore, we expected high environmental overlap with at least that species. However, our findings show it having the lowest climatic overlap value and are not sharing distribution areas with other members of the complex, which would be related to the low levels of precipitation (Bio13 and Bio15) recorded for its currently known range in Mexico (Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Sonora) and the U.S.A. (Arizona).…”

Comparative egg morphology of six Meccus species and Triatoma recurva (Stål, 1868) Hemiptera: Reduviidae

“…Several Triatoma species have been related to the Phyllosoma complex, including T. mexicana, T. dimidiata , and T. recurva , the latter appearing to have a close phylogenetic relationship with M. longipennis (Pfeiler et al , Espinoza et al ). However, a recent study involving crosses between T. recurva and the six species of the genus Meccus showed poor reproductive fitness in crosses with M. longipennis , and low or no reproductive viability of the rest of the parental crosses analyzed (Martínez‐Ibarra et al ). This biological evidence and our morphometric results do not support the phylogenetic proximity of T. recurva and Meccus spp., but further studies with different population of Mexican triatomines are required.…”