Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Campus Araraquara, São Paulo, Brasil.
Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, UNICAMP, Brazil.
J Vector Ecol. 2020 Jun;45(1):57-68. doi: 10.1111/jvec.12373.
The Triatoma brasiliensis complex is composed of six species (Triatoma bahiensis, T. juazerensis, T. lenti, T. melanica, T. petrocchiae, and T. sherlocki) and two subspecies (T. brasiliensis brasiliensis and T. b. macromelasoma). Phylogenetic studies have shown that it is a monophyletic group, but the morphological relationships among the members can be better understood. We applied a tool of high resolution based on morphology to identify details that characterize the female genitals for each member of this group. The external genital structures of five to fifteen females of each taxon were analyzed. Insects had their abdomen transversely cut to separate the last abdominal segments, and representative illustrations obtained via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are shown. Observations were performed in the dorsal and the ventral views. The morphological characterization of female external genitalia allowed a differentiation of each species/subspecies. The subspecies T. b. brasiliensis and T. b. macromelasoma were the most similar. On the other hand, dorsal view of structures evidenced some unique characteristics for T. petrocchiae and T. sherlocki. Regarding these structures for T. petrocchiae, the differentiation was in accordance with molecular studies, since this species exhibits the highest genetic distances in relation to other species of T. brasiliensis complex.
布氏田鳖复合种由六个物种（Triatoma bahiensis、T. juazerensis、T. lenti、T. melanica、T. petrocchiae 和 T. sherlocki）和两个亚种（T. brasiliensis brasiliensis 和 T. b. macromelasoma）组成。系统发育研究表明，它是一个单系群，但成员之间的形态关系可以更好地理解。我们应用了一种基于形态的高分辨率工具来识别该组每个成员的女性生殖器的特征细节。分析了每个分类群的 5 到 15 只雌性的外部生殖器结构。昆虫的腹部被横向切开以分离最后一个腹部节段，并通过扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 获得代表性插图。观察在背面和腹面进行。雌性外部生殖器的形态特征允许对每个物种/亚种进行区分。亚种 T. b. brasiliensis 和 T. b. macromelasoma 最为相似。另一方面，结构的背面视图为 T. petrocchiae 和 T. sherlocki 提供了一些独特的特征。关于 T. petrocchiae 的这些结构，其分化与分子研究一致，因为与布氏田鳖复合种的其他物种相比，该物种表现出最高的遗传距离。
