title: Cryptic speciation in the Triatoma sordida subcomplex (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) revealed by chromosomal markers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chagas disease vectors (Hemiptera-Reduviidae) comprise more than 140 blood-sucking insect species of the Triatominae subfamily. The largest genus is Triatoma, subdivided in several complexes and subcomplexes according to morphology, ecology and genetic features. One of them is the sordida subcomplex, involving four species: Triatoma sordida, T. guasayana, T. garciabesi and T. patagonica. Given the great morphological similarity of these species, their taxonomic identification, evolutionary relationships and population differentiation have been controversial for many years and even today remain under discussion.
  
  
  METHODS
  We simultaneously analyzed two chromosomal markers, C-heterochromatin distribution and 45S ribosomal genes chromosomal position, of 139 specimens from several sordida subcomplex populations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay, collected both in nature and from several established insectaries. Our results were compared with COI sequences deposited in GenBank.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We recognized five chromosomal taxa with putative hybrids, which each differ in at least one chromosome marker. Most of them present significant differences in their mtDNA sequences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The chromosomal taxa here show a significant chromosome differentiation involving changes in the C-heterochromatin content and in the ribosomal clusters position. This paper identifies several erroneously classified populations by morphological methods, delimits the geographical distribution of each taxon and proposes the existence of a new cryptic species, widely distributed in Argentina. We also suggest that sordida sibling species involve closely related as well as evolutionary distant species. Taxonomic status of each chromosomal taxon is discussed considering phenotypic and genetic results previously published.
authors.affiliation: Sección Genética Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Calle: Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay. fcopanzera@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Panzera
authors.affiliation: Sección Genética Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Calle: Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay. spita@fcien.edu.uy.
authors.forename: Sebastián
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pita
authors.affiliation: Cátedra Introducción a la Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas (IIByT) CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina. julietanattero@gmail.com.|Present address: Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Laboratorio de Eco-Epidemiología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. julietanattero@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Julieta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nattero
authors.affiliation: Sección Genética Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Calle: Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay. yaninapanzera@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yanina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Panzera
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Nacional e Internacional de Referência em Taxonomia de Triatomíneos (LNIRTT), Instituto Oswaldo, Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. clebergalvao@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cleber
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Laboratorios de Salud (INLASA), Laboratorio de Entomología Médica, La Paz, Bolivia. tamarachavezespada@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chavez
authors.affiliation: Centro para el Desarrollo de la Investigación Científica (CEDIC)/Díaz Gill Medicina Laboratorial/Fundación Moisés Bertoni, Asunción, Paraguay. rojasdearias@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Antonieta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rojas De Arias
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación Hernando Bertoni, Instituto Paraguayo de Tecnología Agraria, Asunción, Paraguay. lucardozo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cardozo Téllez
authors.affiliation: Interactions hôtes-vecteurs-parasites dans les infections par trypanosomatidae (INTERTRYP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Noireau
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059006:Chromosomes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D014224:Triatoma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D019476:Insect Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV