Piccinali Romina V, Nattero Julieta, Cano Florencia, Sánchez-Casaccia Paz, Carbajal-de-la-Fuente Ana L
Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología, Departamento de Ecología Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución (IEGEBA), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Front Insect Sci. 2025 Jun 2;5:1593921. doi: 10.3389/finsc.2025.1593921. eCollection 2025.
Urbanization has transformed landscapes, driving ecological and morphological changes in insects. Chagas, traditionally a multidimensional rural problem, is increasingly reported in urban areas. , the primary vector of Chagas disease in the Southern Cone, has been reported in urban centers of San Juan, Argentina, for decades. Using morphometric and colorimetric analyses, we assess how urbanization influences the morphology and coloration of .
A total of 105 adults from five urban and one rural population of San Juan were analyzed.Wings, pronota, heads, and legs were measured and compared between populations and sexes. Principal Component and Canonical Variate Analyses were performed to assess shape variations. Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests, and linear models examined size differences. Colorimetric analyses searched for wing and connexivum color differences between individuals.
Multivariate analyses revealed significant morphological differentiation of wing, pronotum, and head shapes, primarily distinguishing the rural Valle Fértil from urban populations. Centroid size analyses indicated that rural individuals exhibited larger body structures, a pattern generally consistent across sexes. Furthermore, leg morphology also varied, with Valle Fértil insects possessing greater femur length and width compared to their urban counterparts. No significant color differences were found across populations or sexes.
Urban exhibit size reductions, aligning with Schofield's simplification hypothesis and possibly influenced by the Urban Heat Island effect. Shape changes, more pronounced in wings and pronota, suggest other influences beyond the rural-urban gradient, potentially including developmental plasticity, flight demands, and genetic drift. These findings underscore the need for urban-specific Chagas disease control strategies and further research on the evolutionary dynamics of in urban environments.
城市化改变了地貌，推动了昆虫的生态和形态变化。恰加斯病传统上是一个多层面的农村问题，但在城市地区的报告越来越多。在阿根廷圣胡安的城市中心，已经有几十年报道称，锥蝽是南锥体地区恰加斯病的主要传播媒介。我们通过形态测量和比色分析，评估城市化如何影响锥蝽的形态和颜色。
对来自圣胡安五个城市和一个农村地区的总共105只成年锥蝽进行了分析。测量并比较了不同种群和性别的翅膀、前胸背板、头部和腿部。进行主成分分析和典型变量分析以评估形状变化。使用克鲁斯卡尔 - 沃利斯检验和威尔科克森检验以及线性模型来检查大小差异。比色分析寻找个体之间翅膀和侧接缘颜色的差异。
多变量分析显示，翅膀、前胸背板和头部形状存在显著的形态差异，主要将农村的费尔蒂尔谷与城市种群区分开来。形心大小分析表明，农村个体的身体结构更大，这一模式在两性中普遍一致。此外，腿部形态也有所不同，费尔蒂尔谷的昆虫与城市同类相比，股骨长度和宽度更大。在不同种群或性别之间未发现显著的颜色差异。
城市锥蝽体型减小，符合斯科菲尔德的简化假说，可能受到城市热岛效应的影响。形状变化在翅膀和前胸背板中更为明显，表明除了城乡梯度之外还有其他影响因素，可能包括发育可塑性、飞行需求和遗传漂变。这些发现强调了制定针对城市的恰加斯病控制策略以及进一步研究城市环境中锥蝽进化动态的必要性。
