Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Vigilância Entomológica em Diptera e Hemiptera, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ. Av. Brasil 4365. Pavilhão Carlos Chagas, 5º andar. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal Rural do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Rodovia BR 465, Km 07, s/n. Zona Rural. Seropédica, RJ, Brasil.
J Med Entomol. 2019 Jun 27;56(4):959-966. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjz017.
Spermatozoa are among the most diverse cell types, and their morphologies often provide data that can be used to reliably evaluate phylogenetic relationships. They can also help to clarify the nature of 'specific complexes', which are common among triatomines. In the present study, we evaluated the copulation behavior of Triatoma rubrovaria Blanchard 1843 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) and the structural morphology of sperm from T. carcavalloi Jurberg Rocha & Lent, 1998, T. infestans Klug, 1834, T. pintodiasi Jurberg Cunha & Rocha, 2013, and T. rubrovaria. Copulatory behavior was described from the moment males and females genitalia joined until they separated. Insemination was confirmed by the presence of a spermatophore in the female's bursa copulatrix. To measure their sperm, males were dissected and their seminal vesicles were removed, squashed on glass slides, and then spread, fixed, and observed under a photomicroscope. The images obtained were analyzed to measure the sperm. Seminal vesicles were also prepared for transmission electron microscopy. We performed K-means clustering separately for each species to group their sperm based on morphology. The differences in spermatozoa length among species of Triatominae, sperm types, and the interaction between species and sperm type were assessed with a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The copulation time in T. rubrovaria was 3 to 5 min, which was sufficiently long for spermatophore transfer. All taxa showed polymorphic (short and long) sperm, with significant differences in the lengths of sperm among taxa. Using electron microscopy, the sperm cells of the four taxa examined were found to have similar ultrastructural morphology, confirming the hypothesized synapomorphies of sperm within the suborder Heteroptera (Hemiptera).
精子是最多样化的细胞类型之一，它们的形态结构常常提供可用于可靠评估系统发育关系的数据。它们还可以帮助澄清“特定复合物”的性质，这些复合物在三锥虫中很常见。在本研究中，我们评估了红棕色三锥虫（Hemiptera：Reduviidae：Triatominae）的交配行为以及 T. carcavalloi Jurberg Rocha & Lent，1998、T. infestans Klug，1834、T. pintodiasi Jurberg Cunha & Rocha，2013 和 T. rubrovaria 的精子的结构形态。从雄性和雌性生殖器结合到它们分离的那一刻描述交配行为。通过在雌性交合囊中存在精荚来确认授精。为了测量精子，雄性被解剖并取出精囊，将其压碎在载玻片上，然后展开、固定并在光显微镜下观察。获得的图像用于测量精子。还为透射电子显微镜准备了精囊。我们分别对每个物种进行 K-均值聚类，根据形态将它们的精子分组。使用双向方差分析（ANOVA）评估了三锥虫属种间精子长度的差异、精子类型以及物种和精子类型之间的相互作用。T. rubrovaria 的交配时间为 3 到 5 分钟，足以进行精荚转移。所有分类群都表现出多态性（短和长）精子，并且在分类群之间的精子长度上存在显著差异。使用电子显微镜，发现检查的四个分类群的精子细胞具有相似的超微结构形态，证实了亚目 Heteroptera（半翅目）内精子的假设同源特征。
