title: Wing size and shape variation of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) populations from the south and north slopes of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
abstract: The wing shape and size morphology of populations of the medically important phlebotomine sand fly, Phlebotomus papatasi, were examined in two endemic (south of the Atlas Mountains) and nonendemic (north of the Atlas Mountains) foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis by using geometric morphometrics in Morocco. Although it is present in all of Morocco, P. papatasi is the main vector of Leishmania major in only southern part of the Atlas Mountains. There are four major mountain ranges that serve as geographical barriers for species distribution in the study area and at least four gaps were recognized among these barriers. We found statistically significant differences in wing shape morphology between southern and northern populations. Analysis clearly recognized two main groups of populations on both sides of the mountains. The graphical depiction of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Variates Analysis (CVA) confirmed our morphometric study suggesting that the difference in wing morphology between the populations indicates that the population of P. papatasi shows phenotypic plasticity in the study area. According to centroid size analyses, which were used as measures of wing size differences among different sites, the north population of P. papatasi had relatively larger wings than the south population.
authors.affiliation: UMR MIVEGEC (IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Universités Montpellier 1 et 2), Montpellier, F-34394, France.
authors.forename: Jorian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prudhomme
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gunay
authors.forename: Nil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rahola
authors.forename: Fouad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ouanaimi
authors.forename: Souad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guernaoui
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boumezzough
authors.forename: Anne-Laure
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bañuls
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sereno
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Alten
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009018:Morocco; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000502:physiology*; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology