Aldana Elis, Heredia-Coronado Edgar, Avendaño-Rangel Francys, Lizano Eliécer, Concepción Juan Luis, Bonfante-Cabarcas Rafael, Rodríguez-Bonfante Claudia, Pulido María Magdalena
Laboratorio Laboratorio de Entomología Herman Lent, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes.
Biomedica. 2011 Mar;31(1):108-17. doi: 10.1590/S0120-41572011000100013.
In recent years, the assassin bug, Panstrongylus geniculatus, has been found infected with Trypanosoma cruzi in rural and urban areas of Caracas, Venezuela. Although historically this insect has been considered a forest species, it has become adapted to more urban artificial environments.
The presence of sexual dimorphism was determined as an indicator of adaptation to domiciles.
By Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA) and Elliptical Fourier Analysis (EFA), the isometric size and shape of wings, head and pronotums of P. geniculatus was assessed for actively and passively captured specimens. These were collected within domiciles in urban areas of Petare and Altagracia in Caracas City, and from rural or wild environments of Sanare in Andres Eloy Blanco in the state of Lara.
Sexual dimorphism was observed in the Sanare specimens, with female wings consistently larger than male wings. Similarly, female wings and heads from bugs captured in Caracas were smaller than those of female bugs captured in Sanare. No significative differences in the conformation of the pronotum were found between male and female bugs.
Based on the assumption that the sexual dimorphism of bugs is reflected by smaller size in domesticated triatomines than in wild bugs, the conclusion is that Caracas P. geniculatus has become adapted to living indoors. This represents an additional risk factor for the Chagas disease transmission in Caracas.
近年来，在委内瑞拉加拉加斯的农村和城市地区，已发现刺猎蝽（Panstrongylus geniculatus）感染了克氏锥虫。尽管从历史上看，这种昆虫一直被视为森林物种，但它已适应了更多城市人工环境。
确定性二态性的存在，作为适应住所的一个指标。
通过广义普氏分析（GPA）和椭圆傅里叶分析（EFA），对主动和被动捕获的刺猎蝽的翅膀、头部和前胸背板的等距大小和形状进行评估。这些样本是在加拉加斯市佩塔雷和阿尔塔格拉西亚市区的住所内，以及拉腊州安德烈斯·埃洛伊·布兰科市萨纳雷的农村或野外环境中采集的。
在萨纳雷的样本中观察到了性二态性，雌性翅膀始终比雄性翅膀大。同样，在加拉加斯捕获的臭虫的雌性翅膀和头部比在萨纳雷捕获的雌性臭虫的要小。在雄性和雌性臭虫的前胸背板形态上未发现显著差异。
基于驯化的锥蝽比野生锥蝽体型更小反映了臭虫性二态性这一假设，得出的结论是加拉加斯的刺猎蝽已适应在室内生活。这是加拉加斯恰加斯病传播的另一个风险因素。
