Does Triatoma brasiliensis occupy the same environmental niche space as Triatoma melanica?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Triatomines (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) are vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, one of the most important vector-borne diseases in Latin America. This study compares the environmental niche spaces of Triatoma brasiliensis and Triatoma melanica using ecological niche modelling and reports findings on DNA barcoding and wing geometric morphometrics as tools for the identification of these species.

Methods

We compared the geographic distribution of the species using generalized linear models fitted to elevation and current data on land surface temperature, vegetation cover and rainfall recorded by earth observation satellites for northeastern Brazil. Additionally, we evaluated nucleotide sequence data from the barcode region of the mitocho

SUBMITTER: de Souza Rde C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4496957 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature