CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Triatoma infestans is the main vector of the parasite that causes the Chagas disease in South America. It is known that T. infestans has different reproductive and development patterns depending on whether they feed on birds or mammals. Using the head of adult insects as an estimator of the specimen development, we attempt to determine if there are any differences in the sexual size dimorphism associated with the availability of the food resource in T. infestans of natural habitats in the Llanos Riojanos region (Argentina). The nutritional status resulted higher in chicken coops and, in both habitats, it was higher for females in relation to males. The centroid size was larger in females than in males from chicken coops, but not in the specimens from goat corrals. Centroid sizes revealed smaller medians in goat insects in comparison to those coming from chicken coops. Sexual size dimorphism occurs associated with differences in the nutritional status only for triatomines from chicken coops in natural habitats. The heads shape was not influenced by the nutritional status. The sexual morphophysiological differences found in T. infestans help us understand aspects of the behavior of the species in diverse environments and its implications in the vectorial transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi

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