Host-feeding sources and habitats jointly affect wing developmental stability depending on sex in the major Chagas disease vector Triatoma infestans

NATTERO JULIETA; DUJARDIN JEAN-PIERRE; MARÍA DEL PILAR FERNÁNDEZ; GÜRTLER RICARDO

Infection, Genetics and Evolution

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 36 p. 539 - 546

1567-1348

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), a slight and random departure from bilateral symmetry that is normally distributed around a 0 mean, has been widely used to infer developmental instability. We investigated whether habitats (ecotopes) and host-feeding sources influenced wing FA of the hematophagous bug Triatoma infestans. Because bug populations occupying distinct habitats differed substantially and consistently in various aspects such as feeding rates, engorgement status and the proportion of gravid females, we predicted that bugs from more open peridomestic habitats (i.e., goat corrals)weremore likely to exhibit higher FA than bugs fromdomiciles.We examined patterns of asymmetry and the amount of wing size and shape FA in 196 adult T. infestans collected across a gradient of habitat suitability and stability that decreased fromdomiciles, storerooms, kitchens, chicken coops, pig corrals, to goat corrals in a well-defined area of Figueroa, northwestern Argentina. The bugs had unmixed blood meals on human, chicken, pig and goat depending on the bug collection ecotope. We documented the occurrence of FA inwing shape for bugs fed on all host-feeding sources and in all ecotopes except for females fromdomiciles or fed on humans. FA indices for wing shape differed significantly among host-feeding sources, ecotopes and sexes.The patterns of wing asymmetry in females fromdomiciles and fromgoat corrals were significantly different; differences inmale FA were congruentwith evidence showing that they had highermobility than females across habitats.The host-feeding sources and habitats of T. infestans affectedwing developmental stability depending on sex.