Description of a new species of Nesotriatoma Usinger, 1944 from Cuba and revalidation of synonymy between Nesotriatoma bruneri (Usinger, 1944) and N. flavida (Neiva, 1911) (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae)

Abstract

Nesotriatoma confusa sp. nov. (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) is described based on specimens from Cuba. From one male, one female, and eleven nymphs of a then-undescribed species of Nesotriatoma collected in Cuba, a colony was formed and its specimens were used to describe N. confusa sp. nov. Characters were observed on the head, thorax, abdomen, female external genitalia, and male genitalia with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. We concluded that N. bruneri (Usinger, ) was indeed a synonym of N. flavida (Neiva, ) as previously proposed.

Triatoma brasiliensis species complex: characterization of the external female genitalia

“…In Triatominae, morphological structures of male genitalia have traditionally been extensively used for taxonomic purposes (Souza et al 2017, Oliveira et al 2018), whereas features of female genitalia have not been well explored. As a result of improvements in scanning electron microscopy (Rosa et al 2010, 2014), identification of details in female external genitalia demonstrated its utility for specific differentiation of this group.…”

“…For taxonomic purposes the tool was also applied to complement the description of Rhodnius montenegrensis (Rosa et al 2012), R. marabaensis (Souza et al 2016), R. taquarussuensis (Rosa et al 2017) and Nesotriatoma confusa (Oliveira et al 2018) and in the characterization of 35 species distributed in seven genera (Rosa et al 2012, 2017, De Oliveira et al 2015, Dos Santos Souza et al 2016, Mendonça et al 2016, Rivas et al 2017, Souza et al 2017, Rodrigues et al 2018). Here, the morphological study of the female external structures of the species of the T. brasiliensis complex was analyzed for the first time and provided a relevant contribution for the group.…”

New records of Mepraia (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) in Chile

“…There are 79,000 species in the order Hemiptera (Stork ) and 7,000 species within the family Reduviidae (Weirauch et al ). Its subfamily Triatominae has 154 species (Rosa et al , Oliveira et al , Dorn et al , Poinar ), including three fossil species (Poinar , Poinar , Poinar ). The 151 remaining species encompass wild, domiciliary, and peri‐domiciliary triatomine bugs that are all capable of transmitting Trypanosoma cruzi to humans and 150 species belonging to 24 families of domestic or wild animals.…”

“…The 151 remaining species encompass wild, domiciliary, and peri‐domiciliary triatomine bugs that are all capable of transmitting Trypanosoma cruzi to humans and 150 species belonging to 24 families of domestic or wild animals. Thus, these 150 vertebrate and 151 triatomine species sustain the cycle of the etiologic agent of Chagas’ disease (Rosa et al , Oliveira et al , Dorn et al ). Trypanosoma rangeli is another protozoan that can be transmitted by triatomines of the genus Rhodnius (Guhl and Vallejo ), as well as Blasthocrithidia which is a monoxenic protozoan that has been described as parasitizing Triatoma infestans (Cerisola et al ).…”

“…The 154 species of the Triatominae subfamily are distributed in 19 genera, including Panstrongylus, Rhodnius , and Triatoma , which harbor the most important species transmitting T. cruzi to humans (Rosa et al , Oliveira et al , Dorn et al , Poinar ). Nevertheless, the genus Mepraia, comprising M. gajardoi, M. parapatrica, and M. spinolai , has a particular relevance as all these species have only been observed in Chile (Porter , Frias et al , Frias ).…”