Cuticular hydrocarbon pattern as a chemotaxonomy marker to assess intraspecific variability in Triatoma infestans, a major vector of Chagas? disease

GUSTAVO M CALDERÓN FERNÁNDEZ; JUAN R GIROTTI; M PATRICIA JUAREZ

MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2011 vol. 26 p. 201 - 209

0269-283X

Triatoma infestans Klug (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) populations were sampled in various localities throughout most of the species? geographic range of distribution in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru. In order to contribute tounderstanding of the diversity and population structure of this major vector ofChagas? disease, cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles were analysed by capillarygas chromatography and variations evaluated by statistical methods of classification and ordination. High levels of intrapopulation variation were detected, along with low levels of variability among populations. Based on relative amounts of the major oddnumbered straight-chain hydrocarbons n-C27 to n-C33, two hydrocarbon phenotypes were evident, unequally distributed along the species? geographic range. Analysis of CHC patterns showed that T. infestans populations segregate into two major groups consisting of an Andean group, which comprises specimens from Peru and most parts of Bolivia, and a non-Andean group, which includes all specimens from Argentina and Paraguay, together with those from Tarija (Bolivia). Pyrethroid-resistant and - susceptible specimens were differentiated based on relative amounts of some straight and monomethyl-branched hydrocarbon components.