Cytogenetic Key to Identification of Triatominae Species Reported in an Outbreak Region of Oral Transmission of Chagas Disease in the Brazilian Northeast.

Oral transmission from the consumption of processed food with triatomines and/or their feces infected with Trypanosoma cruzi prevails among recent cases of Chagas disease in Brazil. In Paraíba, a state of the Brazilian northeast, there was an outbreak caused by the consumption of sugarcane juice that resulted in 26 cases of infection and one death. Until now, 10 species of triatomines have been reported in this Brazilian state. Thus, we developed a dichotomous key to assist in the correct identification of Paraíba triatomines based on cytogenetic data. The dichotomous key allowed the differentiation of all the species in this state. Although the purpose of CytoKeys is not to replace dichotomous keys based on morphological data, the use of these complementary keys can help to solve taxonomic problems, preventing identification errors, especially between similar species such as Triatoma brasiliensis and Triatoma petrocchiae, both present in the Brazilian northeast.

Dichotomous Keys Based on Cytogenetic Data for Triatomines Reported in Brazilian Regions with Outbreaks of Orally Transmitted Chagas Disease (Pernambuco and Rio Grande Do Norte).

Chagas disease (CD) affects about eight million people worldwide. Brazil has the highest number of estimated cases and the largest number of deaths due to CD. Considering the recent outbreaks of oral CD involving at least 27 cases of acute CD in Pernambuco (PE) as well as 18 cases and 2 deaths in the Rio Grande do Norte (RN), we developed dichotomous keys for the identification of triatomine species in these Brazilian states based on cytogenetic data. All triatomine species could be distinguished by cytogenetic characteristics, emphasizing the importance of the newly developed taxonomic keys for the correct identification of triatomes from PE and RN, particularly for species that exhibit morphological similarities, such as Triatoma brasilensis and T. petrocchiae (present in both states) and T. maculata and T. pseudomaculata (as T. pseudomaculata has been misidentified as T. maculata in PE and RN). These alternative keys are expected to provide a useful tool for the scientific community and, above all, health agents, aimed at preventing mistakes from occurring in the identification of the vectors present in PE and RN related to CD outbreaks caused by oral infection.

Do not judge a book by its cover: would Triatoma tibiamaculata (Pinto, 1926) belong to Triatoma Laporte, 1832, or to Panstrongylus Berg, 1879, with misleading homoplasies?

BACKGROUND: Triatoma tibiamaculata is a species distributed in ten Brazilian states which has epidemiological importance as it has already been found infecting household areas. The taxonomy of this triatomine has been quite unstable: it was initially described as Eutriatoma tibiamaculata. Later, the species was transferred from the genus Eutriatoma to Triatoma. Although included in the genus Triatoma, the phylogenetic position of T. tibiamaculata in relation to other species of this genus has always been uncertain once this triatomine was grouped in all phylogenies with the genus Panstrongylus, rescuing T. tibiamaculata and P. megistus as sister species. Thus, we evaluated the generic status of T. tibiamaculata using phylogenetic and chromosomal analysis. METHODS: Chromosomal (karyotype) and phylogenetic (with mitochondrial and nuclear markers) analyses were performed to assess the relationship between T. tibiamaculata and Panstrongylus spp. RESULTS: The chromosomal and phylogenetic relationship of T. tibiamaculata and Panstrongylus spp. confirms the transfer of the species to Panstrongylus with the new combination: Panstrongylus tibiamaculatus. CONCLUSIONS: Based on chromosomal and phylogenetic characteristics, we state that P. tibiamaculatus comb. nov. belongs to the genus Panstrongylus and that the morphological features shared with Triatoma spp. represent homoplasies.