Chemotaxonomy of Five South American Species of the Triatoma genus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) Based on Their Cuticle Hydrocarbon Pattern

MORICONI, DÉBORA E; MACEDO-LOPES, CATARINA; SARTORIO, ADRIANA; JUÁREZ, M PATRICIA; GIROTTI, JUAN R; CALDERÓN-FERNÁNDEZ, GUSTAVO M

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOC AMER

Año: 2022 vol. 59 p. 554 - 564

0022-2585

The Triatoma sordida subcomplex traditionally included four triatomine species, Triatoma sordida, T. garciabesi, T. guasayana and T. patagonica, distributed in the Southern Cone of South America. These species have a large intraspecific variability together with an overall similarity, making difficult to establish their taxonomic status. Many cytogenetic, morphometric, and molecular markers have been applied to address this. Recent studies have posed concerns on the inclusion of T. guasayana and T. patagonica within the subcomplex. Also, T. sordida from Argentina has been designed as a new species, T. rosai. Using the cuticular hydrocarbon pattern as chemotaxonomic marker, the relationships among several populations of these species were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography and linear discriminant analysis along 25 collection sites in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Triatoma sordida and T. rosai populations were differentially clustered in two CHC-based groups: ´Group 1´ included T. sordida from Eastern Brazil, Eastern Paraguay, and the Bolivian populations from La Paz and Izozog G1; ?Group 2? included T. rosai, and T. sordida from Izozog G2 (Bolivia), and Western Paraguay. Whereas T. garciabesi remained closely related to T. sordida and T. rosai, T. guasayana and T. patagonica were clearly separated from the species of the T. sordida subcomplex. Our results agree with those from other several techniques suggesting that the taxonomy of the T. sordida subcomplex should be revised.