title: Comparative egg morphology of six Meccus species and Triatoma recurva (Stål, 1868) Hemiptera: Reduviidae.
abstract: We investigated the morphology and morphometry of eggs from the colonies of the Entomology Laboratory at ENCB-IPN belonging to six species of the genus Meccus and Triatoma recurva, using both light and scanning electron microscopy. Egg ornamentation is an important parameter to consider in the differentiation of species. Samples were observed under a scanning electron microscope. Measurements of fifty eggs per species included length, width, and opercular diameter, which were used for the morphometric analysis. The results showed that the seven species display a polygonal ornamentation dominated by hexagons; the operculum shows also a polygonal ornamental characteristic in each species. Morphometry provided valuable information for discriminating between closely related species of the genus Meccus and Triatoma recurva, a species akin to this group, thereby facilitating the complete discrimination of these species.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, C.P. 11340, México.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rivas
authors.affiliation: Centro de Nanociencias y Micro y Nanotecnologías, C.P. 07738, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Espíndola
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, C.P. 11340, México.
authors.forename: Alejandro D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, C.P. 11340, México. rialejandre@yahoo.com.mx.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alejandre-Aguilar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010063:Ovum / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D014224:Triatoma / Q000502:physiology*; D014225:Triatominae / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Egg morphology; Meccus; Triatoma recurva; morphometry; scanning electron microscopy