Patterns of Exochorion Ornaments on Eggs of Seven South American Species ofLutzomyiaSand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae)

Abstract

The patterns of exochorion ornaments on eggs of seven South American Lutzomyia sand fly species were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM): Lutzomyia (Lutzomyia) cruzi (Mangabeira 1938), Lutzomyia (Micropygomyia) evandroi (Costa Lima and Antunes 1936), L. (Nyssomyia) intermedia (Lutz and Neiva 1912), L. longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva 1912), L. migonei (Franca 1920), L. (Nyssomyia) neivai (Pinto 1926), and L. renei (Martins, Falcao, and Silva 1957). Different patterns were observed, which showed the distinction between some species. Egg ornaments in L. cruzi and L. longipalpis appear as single, parallel, unconnected ridges, whereas eggs of L. migonei appear as single, parallel, connected ridges. Eggs of L. (Nyssomyia) intermedia and L. (N.) neivai present a new variation of the single, unconnected, parallel ridges pattern: small tubercles are present, distributed between the ridges. Eggs of L. renei present an elliptical pattern, with most structures connected by straight ridges. Eggs of L. (M.) evandroi present a polygonal pattern, with alternate rows of small and large hexagons. Our data emphasize the advantages of the SEM approach in the study of the exochorion patterns of Lutzomyia eggs and in the distinction of the sand fly species.

Ultramorphological features of the egg of Telmatoscopus albipunctatus (Williston) (Diptera, Psychodidae)

“…The general morphology of T. albipunctatus egg based on SEM is similar to some other Psychodidae species previously studied, such as Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) and L. cruzi (Mangabeira Filho, 1938) (Almeida et al 2004).…”

“…This same function is attributed to the volcano-like protuberances described for L. panamensis, which is more abundant in damp microhabitats (Ward & Ready 1975;Almeida et al 2004). In this case, the prominent structures protect the aeropylar openings, being basis for a well developed plastron (an area for gas exchange).…”

“…Most patterns have prominent ridges consisting of one (L. migonei (França, 1920); Almeida et al 2004) or more series of columns (Phlebotomus sp. ; Fausto et al 1992) which were not observed in T. albipunctatus, whose eggs are morphologically uniform as Sergentomyia (Fausto et al 1993).…”

External eggshell morphology of Anastrepha fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

“…1999) and Drosophila (Kambysellis 1993), and the presence of chorion ornaments, as in Anastrepha (Norrbom et al. 1999), Drosophila (Kambysellis 1993), and Lutzomyia (Almeida et al. 2004).…”

Life history of the sand fly vector Lutzomyia cruciata in laboratory conditions

“…cruciata is a complex of species (Pech-May et al, 2013), and the description of its development stages can be important in resolving this controversy. Previous studies have considered the reticules (crests) that form the eggshell to identify some sand flies species (Endris et al, 1987;Feliciangeli et al, 1993;Perez & Ogusuku, 1997;Fausto et al, 2001;Almeida et al, 2004). The arrangement of the egg reticules of Lu.…”