Intraspecific and Interspecific Phenotypic Differences Confirm the Absence of Cryptic Speciation in Triatoma sordida (Hemiptera, Triatominae)

Author(s)

Caris Garcia, Ariane Cristina ^[1] ; de Oliveira, Jader ^{[2, 3]} ; Cristal, Daniel Cesaretto ^[2] ; Grzyb Delgado, Luiza Maria ^[1] ; Bittinelli, Isadora de Freitas ^[1] ; Galvao, Cleber ^[4] ; Gonzalez Britez, Nilsa Elizabeth ^[5] ; Carrasco, Hernan Jose ^[6] ; da Rosa, Joao Aristeu ^[2] ; Chaboli Alevi, Kaio Cesar ^{[1, 2]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho UN, Inst Biociencias Botucatu, Botucatu, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho UN, Fac Ciencias Farmaceut, Lab Parasitol, Araraquara, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Saude Publ, Dept Epidemiol, Lab Entomol Saude Publ, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Inst Oswaldo Cruz FIOCRUZ, Lab Nacl & Int Referencia Taxon Triatomineos, Pavilhao Rocha Lima, Rio De Janeiro - Brazil

^[5] Univ Nacl Asuncion, Inst Invest Ciencias Salud IICS, Dept Med Trop, Campus Univ, San Lorenzo - Paraguay

^[6] Univ Cent Venezuela, Inst Med Trop, Fac Med, Lab Biol Mol Protozoarios, Caracas - Venezuela

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; v. 105, n. 6, p. 1759-1766, DEC 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Triatoma sordida is an endemic Chagas disease vector in South America, distributed in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Chromosomal, molecular, isoenzymatic, and cuticular hydrocarbon pattern studies indicate cryptic speciation in T. sordida. Recently, T. rosai was described from specimens from Argentina initially characterized as T. sordida. Although several authors assume that the speciation process that supports this differentiation in T. sordida is the result of cryptic speciation, further morphological and/or morphometric studies are necessary to prove the application of this evolutionary event, because the only morphological intraspecific comparison performed in T. sordida is based on geometric morphometry and the only interspecific comparison made is between T. rosai and T. sordida from Brazil that evaluated morphological and morphometric differences. Based on this, morphological analyses of thorax and abdomen using Scanning Electron Microscopy and morphometric analyses of the head, thorax, and abdomen among T. sordida from Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, as well as T. rosai, were performed to assess whether the evolutionary process responsible for variations is the cryptic speciation phenomenon. Morphological differences in the thorax and female external genitalia, as well as morphometric differences in the head, thorax, abdomen, pronotum, and scutellum structures, were observed. Based on this, the evolutionary process that supports, so far, these divergences observed for T. sordida populations/T. sordida subcomplex is not cryptic speciation. Moreover, we draw attention to the necessity for morphological/morphometric studies to correctly apply the cryptic species/speciation terms in triatomines. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/17581-2 - Unraveling the process of cryptic speciation of Triatoma sordida (Stål, 1859) (Hemiptera, Triatominae) through integrative taxonomy
• Grantee: Daniel Cesaretto Cristal
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• FAPESP's process: 18/24116-1 - Is there a barrier of reproductive isolation between the different cytotypes of Triatoma sordida (Stal, 1859) (Hemiptera, Triatominae)?
• Grantee: Luiza Maria Grzyb Delgado
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• FAPESP's process: 17/05015-7 - Study of hybridization in Triatoma sordida (Stal, 1859) (Hemiptera, Reduviidae): evolutionary dynamics, reproductive viability, morpho-molecular characterization and its taxonomic implications
• Grantee: Kaio Cesar Chaboli Alevi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 18/12039-2 - Triatoma sordida (Stål, 1859) (Hemiptera, Triatominae): a Chagas Disease vector or a complex of vectors?
• Grantee: Isadora de Freitas Bittinelli
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation