Descriptions of the Immature Stages of Lutzomyia (Tricholateralis) cruciata (Coquillett) (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae)

Abstract

The present study presents morphological and chaetotaxic descriptions of the immature stages of Lutzomyia (Tricholateralis) cruciata (Coquillett), a probable vector of leishmaniasis in Mexico. The egg exochorion is consistent with the species already known as Lu. (Tricholaterialis), but different from the Lu. cruciata egg of Chiapas, Mexico. The fourth instar larva of Lu. (Tricholateralis) cruciata possesses a novel antenna, combining morphological characteristics of categories 2 and 3 for neotropical sandflies. Differences between the chaetotaxy of first and fourth instar larvae of Lu. cruciata with those of Lu. (Lutzomyia) and Lu. (Tricholaterlis) are compared and discussed. This is the first time in which the chaetotaxy and morphology of pupa of a species belonging to Lutzomyia (Tricholateralis) sensu Galati have been described, and we recorded for the first time the anterior prothorax setae, which was previously only considered for Old World species.

Morphological aspects of immature stages ofMigonemyia migonei(Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) an important vector of Leishmaniosis in South America by scanning electron microscopy

“…The chaetotaxy and morphological structures of Neotropical phlebotomine larvae have been discussed previously by several authors [4,7,8,12,[14][15][16]27,29,32,[34][35][36][37][38]. The general aspect of head, the position of the mouthparts a somewhat prognathous, the peculiar shape of the egg buster, similar to a "volcanic cone" [7], the body shape cylindric, and the types of the most part of the bristles observed in Mg.…”

“…Sensilla similar to the apical clavate basiconic sensillum and the clavate coeloconic sensilla were also evidenced in the larvae antennae of the Lu. cruciata sand fly by Oca-Aguilar [15].…”

“…We presented in this study the first images of the pupa emerging from the Y suture of the head, and subsequently, the pupa, by movements of contraction and inflation, ruptures the thorax in the middle of the dorsal part. There are only a few pupae from Neotropical sand fly species described in detail using 3D images of SEM, howver, all the head setae, small spines, and basiconics are homologous to other Neotropical pupae described [8,[13][14][15][16].…”

“…beltrani [8], Mg. chiapanensi [14], Lu. cruciata [15], Ny. umbratilis [16], and this characteristic is not determinant to phylogeny for Lutzomyiina.…”

“…The use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has significant improved the characterization and descriptions of immature forms, and provided details of larval chaetotaxy [4,5]; ontogeny [6][7][8]; spiracles [9,10]; antennal, and mouthparts, such as the sensilla as well as caudal bristles [7,11,12]. Despite this, only a few articles have been carried out about the pupal morphology of New World phlebotomine sand flies [8,[13][14][15][16]. Therefore, the number of descriptions of immature forms of sand flies still remains scarce.…”