Triatoma dimidiata (Latreille, 1811)

Rengifo-Correa, Laura, Téllez-Rendón, Juan Luis, Esteban, Lyda, Huerta, Herón & Morrone, Juan J., 2021, The Triatoma phyllosoma species group (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae), vectors of Chagas disease: Diagnoses and a key to the species, Zootaxa 5023 (3), pp. 335-365 : 341-342

Triatoma dimidiata (Latreille, 1811)

( Fig. 3D, E, F )

Reduvius dimidiatus Latreille in Humboldt & Bonpland, 1811: 223.

Conorhinus dimidiatus ; Stål, 1859: 110; Champion, 1899: 206.

Conorhinus maculipennis Stål, 1859: 111 .

Conorhinus dimidiatus var. maculipennis ; Champion, 1899: 207; Hoffmann, 1928: 12.

Triatoma dimidiata ; Neiva, 1914: 36; Mazza, 1944: 62; Usinger, 1944: 53; Lent & Wygodzinsky, 1979: 222; Carcavallo et al., 2000: 69; Galvão et al., 2003: 10; Schofield & Galvão, 2009: 92; Monteiro et al., 2018: 284.

Conorhinus dimidiata maculipennis ; Neiva, 1914: 36; Usinger, 1944: 54.

Triatoma maculipennis ; Pinto, 1931: 70.

Triatoma capitata Usinger, 1941: 52 .

Triatoma dimidiata capitata ; Usinger, 1944: 54.

Triatoma dimidiata group I Bargues et al., 2008: e233; Monteiro et al., 2013: e70974, 2018: 284.

Triatoma dimidiata group II Bargues et al., 2008: e233; Monteiro et al., 2013: e70974, 2018: 284.

Diagnosis. Male body length 23.0– 33.6 mm. Female body length 23.0– 35.1 mm. Anteocular region 2.5 to 3 times as long as postocular region. Postocular region with sides rounded, converging posteriorly. Ocelli large, concolorous or lighter than rest of tegument. First antennal segment attaining level of apex of clypeus. Connections between each segment of the labium concolorous with labium. Anterior lobe rugose with distinguishable discal and lateral tubercles. Overall color of corium light yellow to orange yellow, with dark brown apex and central spot of variable size. Membrane of hemelytra smoky brown, distinctly darker than corium. Overall color of connexival segments light yellow to orange yellow, with piceous or black spot-like dot on anterior half or third of segment. Venter piceous or black except yellow to orange yellow area adjacent to connexival suture. Spiracles surrounded by well-defined dark spot, close to connexival suture, never adjacent to connexival suture. Pygophore ovoid and dark ( Fig. 7A ).

Specimens examined. Mexico. 1 female ( CAIM), Campeche, Campeche, Santa Genoveva, 14 iv 2011, JLHR. 1 male ( CAIM), Campeche, Campeche, 06 v 2011, JLHR. 1 male ( CAIM), Campeche, Escárcega, 8 vi 2012, JLHR. 1 male ( CAIM), Campeche, Hopelchen, Bolonchan, 23 viii 2010. 1 male ( CAIM), Chiapas, Copainala, Riv. Miguel Hgo., 6 vi 2009, J. Grajales P. 1 female ( CAIM), Chiapas, Francisco León, El Paraíso, n/d., R. Cruz. 1 male ( CAIM), Chiapas, Ocozocuautla, Manuel Velasco, 30 vii 2009, R. Hernández. 1 male ( CAIM), Chiapas, Tecpatán, Ribera La Esperanza , 17 viii 2010, A. Ruiz Flores. 1 female ( CAIM), Hidalgo, Calnali, Ayacapan, 3 vi 2012, n/d. 1 male ( CAIM), Hidalgo, Huazalingo, Huilotitla, 07 iv 2011, n/d. 1 female ( CAIM), Hidalgo, Pisaflores, La Peña, 26 vi 2012, n/d. 1 male ( CAIM), Hidalgo, S. Felipe Orizatlan, 24 I 2011, n/d. 1 female ( CAIM), State of Mexico, Tejupilco, El Capire, 11 i 2001, InDRE insectarium F1 generation. 1 male ( CAIM), Oaxaca, San Juan Guichicovi, Piedra Blanca, 10 v 2012, U.E.5. 1 female ( CAIM), Oaxaca, S. Ma. Colotepec, Tomatal, 02 ii 2011, V. Hdez. Aquino. 1 male ( CAIM), Puebla, Zacapoaxtla, Hueytlalpan, 12 x 2011, n/d. 1 male ( CAIM), Quintana Roo, Othón P. Blanco, Chetumal, vi 2011, n/d. 1 male ( CAIM), Quintana Roo, Othón P. Blanco, Chetumal, 15 iii 2011, M. Ocampo. 1 female ( CAIM), Quintana Roo, Othón P. Blanco, Chetumal, 10 ii 2011, M. Castillo. 1 male ( CAIM), Quintana Roo, Othón P. Blanco, Chetumal, 5 iv 2011. 1 male ( CAIM), Tabasco, Cárdenas, 24 iv 2011, Gurria Trujillo. 1 male ( CAIM), Tabasco, Cardenas, Fco. Trujillo, 08 vii 2009, S. Gomez. 1 female ( CAIM), Tabasco, Ocuapan, Huimanguillo, 14 v 2012, A. Hdez. 1 male ( CAIM), Ixhuatlan de Madero , Ahuacapan Segundo, 11 ii 1999, M. López Pérez. 1 male ( CAIM), Veracruz, Chicontepec, Pemuxtitla, 28 xi 1999, n/d. 1 male ( CAIM), Veracruz, Ixhuatlán de Madero , Xochimilco, 22 ii 1998, A. Bautista Hdez. 1 female ( CAIM), Veracruz, Santiago Tuxtla, Vigía de Abajo , 18 xi 1998, S. Leal. 1 female ( CAIM), Veracruz, Tihuatlán, La Constitución, 28 iv 1999, C.R. Hernández. 1 male ( CAIM), Yucatán, Kantunil, 07 ix 2008, M. Sabido. 1 male ( CAIM), Yucatán, Mérida, 17 x 2008, Pérez Santos. 1 male ( CAIM), Yucatán, Tekit, Tekit, 14 iv 2009, J. Chab. 1 male ( CAIM), Yucatán, Tixcacalcupul, 11 i 2009, A. Lugo. 1 male ( CAIM), Yucatán, Valladolid, Citilcum, 09 x 2008, R. Ventura .

Distribution. Belize: Cayo and Toledo; Colombia: Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Casanare, Cesar, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Norte de Santander, Santander, and Sucre; Costa Rica: Heredia and San José; El Salvador: Santa Ana and La Unión; Ecuador: Bolívar, Guayas, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Los Ríos, Manabí, and Morona Santiago; Guatemala: Petén, Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Chiquimula, Izabal, Jutiapa, S. Rosa de Lima, Santa Rosa, Quiché, and Zacapa; Honduras: Carrizalón, Copán, Sierra Intibuca, Yoro, and Tegucigalpa; Mexico: Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Yucatán; Nicaragua: Carazo, Escipulas, Masaya, and Río San Juan; Venezuela: Carabobo, Cojedes, Yaracuy, Bolívar, Falcón, Deltra, Amacuro, and Federal District; Panama: Veraguas; and Peru: La Libertad and Tumbes ( Carcavallo et al. 2000; Bargues et al. 2008; Dorn et al. 2009; Monteiro et al. 2013; Gómez-Palacio & Triana 2014)

Comments. This species exhibits large morphological and genetic variability, which has resulted in several taxonomic arrangements (for comprehensive revisions see Dorn et al. 2007, 2016), where synonyms reflect chromatic and morphometric variation associated with particular areas. Triatoma capitata comprises large specimens with slender head and very small central spot on corium, from the southernmost area of the distribution of T. dimidiata ( Colombia, Fig. 3D ). Triatoma maculipennis comprises small specimens with short and wide head, and large central spot on corium, from Mexico, the northernmost area of the distribution of T. dimidiata ( Fig. 3F ; Usinger 1941; Lent & Wygodzinsky 1979; see also figures 36–39 from Rodrigues et al. 2020). Usinger described the “ dimidiata group” including T. hegneri , T. dimidiata , T. capitata , and T. maculipennis , and gave subspecies status to the two latter species ( Usinger 1941, 1944). Lent & Wygodzinsky (1979) synonymized T. dimidiata capitata and T. dimidiata maculipennis into T. dimidiata , arguing clinal variation. Bargues et al. (2008) resurrected subspecies of T. dimidiata and associated them to haplogroups based on nuclear (ITS-2) information: T. dimidiata dimidiata (group Ia), T. dimidiata capitata (group Ib), and T. dimidiata maculipennis (group II). The group I is recorded from Central America to northern South America; the group II is the most common group in Mexico and is frequently recorded in the Gulf of Mexico ( Bargues et al., 2008; Dorn et al. 2009). Also, Bargues et al. (2008) conferred subspecies status to T. hegneri and gave the name T. aff. dimidiata (group III) to a putative cryptic species previously detected in the Yucatán Peninsula ( Marcilla et al. 2001). Sometimes nomenclature of groups I and III is reverted arguing the principle of priority for the group from the Yucatán Peninsula ( Ramsey et al. 2015; Pech-May et al. 2019); however, Marcilla et al. (2001) did not assign a name to the Yucatán Peninsula group. The nomenclature of Bargues et al. (2008) is the most extensively used before the formal description of the new species. Considering mitochondrial genes (cyt b, ND4 sequences), Monteiro et al. (2013) proposed species status for groups I, II, III and T. hegneri , as well as the new group from Belize, named IV. This arrangement was followed by Monteiro et al. (2018). In general, large divergence between groups of T. dimidiata is recovered with mitochondrial phylogenies, even show them as paraphyletic in relation to the other species of the T. phyllosoma species group ( Espinoza et al. 2013). Dorn et al. (2016) tested hypotheses of clinal variation or species-subspecies status for groups I–IV and found three taxa that merit species status: T. dimidiata s.s. (groups I and II), group III (now named T. huehuetenanguensis Lima- Cordón, Monroy, Stevens, Rodas, Rodas, Dorn & Justi, 2019), and group IV (now named T. mopan Dorn, Justi, Dale, Stevens, Galvão, Lima-Cordón & Monroy, 2018 ). The species or subspecies status for T. capitata and T. maculipennis was not supported ( Dorn et al. 2016).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Triatoma spp. A, B, T. bassolsae; C, T. brailovskyi; D, E, F T. dimidiata (3B courtesy of E. Barrera-Vargas and 3C courtesy of C. Dale).

FIGURE 7. Pygophore of Triatoma spp., ventral view. A, T. dimidiata; B, T. huehuetenanguensis; C, T. mopan. Credits of B, Lima-Cordón et al. 2019; C, Dorn et al. 2018.