title: Biological and genetic aspects of crosses between phylogenetically close species of Mexican triatomines (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).
abstract: Reproductive isolation between Triatoma mexicana (Herrich-Scaeffer) and the six species of the Phyllosoma complex, belonging to the genus Meccus, was examined by analyzing the fertility of experimental hybrids. The percentage of couples with offspring was highest in the set of crosses between Meccus phyllosomus (Burmeister) and T. mexicana, and lowest in those between Meccus pallidipennis (Stål) and Meccus bassolsae (Alejandre-Aguilar, Nogueda-Torres, Cortés-Jiménez, Jurberg, Galvão, and Carcavallo) with respect to T. mexicana. Crosses between Meccus mazzottii (Usinger), Meccus picturatus (Usinger), and Meccus longipennis (Usinger) and T. mexicana had scarce offspring, whereas offspring from crosses between M. phyllosomus and T. mexicana were abundant. However, all F1 nymphs died in different instars before reaching sexual maturity. The biological evidence in this study suggests that different degrees of reproductive isolation exist between T mexicana and the different species of Meccus. Our data also support the current status of T. mexicana as a separate species.
authors.affiliation: Area de Entomología Médica, Centro Universitario del Sur, Universidad de Guadalajara, 49000 Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, México. aibarra@cusur.udg.mx
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Martínez-Ibarra
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Grant-Guillén
authors.forename: I N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Delgadillo-Aceves
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Zumaya-Estrada
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rocha-Chávez
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Salazar-Schettino
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alejandre-Aguilar
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Villalobos
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nogueda-Torres
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005298:Fertility; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D008800:Mexico; D010802:Phylogeny; D012098:Reproduction; D014224:Triatoma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014225:Triatominae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology