Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Naturales y Agropecuarias, Grupo de Investigaciones en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas para la Sostenibilidad (CIBAS), Universidad de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Facultad de Ciencias, Laboratorio de Parasitología Experimental (LAPEX), Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, República Bolivariana de Venezuela.
J Med Entomol. 2019 Sep 3;56(5):1260-1269. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjz053.
The genus Belminus Stål, 1859 is distinguished by markedly entomophagous species. This genus is a poorly studied group of the Triatominae (Jeannel, 1919), which includes hematophagous species that are vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas, 1909), the etiological agent of Chagas disease. This study reports for the first time the description of the antennal sensilla of Belminus corredori (Galvão & Angulo, 2003), Belminus herreri (Lent & Wygodzinsky, 1979), and Belminus ferroae (Sandoval, Pabón, Jurberg & Galvão, 2007) nymphs and adults throughout scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy. Nine morphological types of sensilla were identified in the three species, including bristles I and II, trichobothria, tapered hairs, thin-walled trichoid, thick-walled trichoid, basiconic, campaniform, and coeloconica sensilla. The analysis of the most abundant types of sensilla and their distribution in nymphs and adults shows similarities with the antennal phenotypes described in other Triatominae. Quantitative differences showed the important phenotypic plasticity of this morphological trait in the genus and allowed for the separation of the species in both sexes. These differences were associated with sexual dimorphism and wing condition (macropterous and brachypterous). The role of the antennal phenotype in sexual behavior, its usefulness as a taxonomic tool, and its relationship with the dispersal capacity of these species are discussed.
贝尔米纳斯属（Stål，1859）的物种明显以食虫为食。该属是半翅目（Jeannel，1919）中的一个研究较少的组，其中包括吸血物种，它们是克氏锥虫（Chagas，1909）的载体，克氏锥虫是恰加斯病的病因。本研究首次报道了贝尔米纳斯·科雷多里（Galvão & Angulo，2003）、贝尔米纳斯·赫雷尔（Lent & Wygodzinsky，1979）和贝尔米纳斯·费罗（Sandoval、Pabón、Jurberg & Galvão，2007）若虫和成虫的触角感觉器官的描述，通过扫描电子显微镜和光学显微镜。在这三个物种中，共鉴定出 9 种形态类型的感觉器官，包括 I 和 II 刚毛、纤毛、锥形毛、薄壁刺毛、厚壁刺毛、基底圆锥、钟形和腔锥形感觉器官。最丰富的感觉器官类型及其在若虫和成虫中的分布分析与其他半翅目描述的触角表型相似。定量差异表明，该形态特征在该属中具有重要的表型可塑性，并允许在两性中对物种进行分离。这些差异与性别二态性和翅膀状况（大翅和短翅）有关。讨论了触角表型在性行为中的作用、作为分类工具的有用性以及与这些物种扩散能力的关系。
