New record of Haemagogus janthinomys (Diptera:Culicidae) in Chaco Province, Argentina, main vector of Yellow fever virus

CANO M E; MUTTIS E; AYALA M; BALSALOBRE A; BRIVIDORO M; MICIELI M V; MARTI G A

La Plata

Congreso; II Congress of the Latin American Society for Vector Ecology Control of endemic zoonotic and vector-borne emerging and re-emerging diseases: Current challenges in Latin America; 2022

Yellow fever is an endemic zoonotic disease from Africa and America, with an urban and asylvatic cycle. Mosquitoes are vectors of Yellow fever virus (YFV) in both cycles, but differentspecies are involved in each one. In America, species belong to the genera Haemagogusand Sabethes are considered as main and secondary vectors in the sylvatic transmission,with Haemagogus janthinomys as the main vector species. During the last years,neighboring countries of Argentina: Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, reported YF outbreakseach time closer to the border. Regarding geographical distribution, this species is distributedfrom northern Argentina and southern Brazil to Honduras and Nicaragua. In our country Hg.janthinomys, inhabits the provinces of Salta, Jujuy, La Rioja, Tucumán and Catamarca sofar. The objective of this work is to update the distribution patterns, mainly in the north ofArgentina where this species has not been recorded. The sampling was made in “ElImpenetrable” National Park, Chaco province, during february 2022. Adult mosquitoes werecaptured with entomologic nets and CDC traps (supplemented with CO2) and immaturestages were collected from tree holes using pipettes. Some larvae were reared until adultemergence while others were stored in 70 % alcohol for future studies. We found a total of17 specimens morphologically similar to Hg. janthinomys species (15 females and 2 males).Regarding sampling methods, 65% (n=11) was captured with entomologic nets; 6% (n=1)with CDC traps; and 29% (n=5) (immature stages) with pipettes. Due to the difficulty ofdistinguishing females of Hg. janthinomys and Hg. capricornii species, because of theirmorphological similarity, we proceeded to amplify a segment of the mitochondrial gene COI(cytochrome oxidase c subunit I) for molecular identification of species. In order to obtain theCOI sequences, one leg from each of three specimens was removed and standard protocolsto DNA purification and sequence amplification were performed. The COI sequencesperformed by Macrogen were compared with those stored in the BOLD repository. We found94% of similarity with previously published sequences of Hg. janthinomys. This study is thefirst record of Hg. janthinomys in Chaco province (and Chaco Seco ecorregion) expanding itsdistribution, and determines a starting point for ecological studies.