Triatoma infestans (Klug, 1834)

Galvão, Cleber, Gil-Santana, Hélcio R. & Oliveira, Jader de, 2024, The taxonomic catalog of the Brazilian fauna: biodiversity and geographical distribution of Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Brazil, Zoologia (e 24006) 41, pp. 1-28 : 12

Triatoma infestans (Klug, 1834)

Distribution (previously to the success of control program). Alagoas, Bahia, EspÍrito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, ParaÍba, Paraná, Pernambuco, PiauÍ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Sergipe and Tocantins.

Public health importance. This species was the most important vector and the primary vector of T. cruzi to humans in South America, as it easily colonizes the domiciliary habitat ( Pereira et al. 2006). For about half of all Chagas disease cases, T. infestans was the responsible vector ( Bargues et al. 2006). Since 1960s some regular national and regional programmes, especially against Chagas disease have been conducted in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, and Uruguay. Especially the regional program of the Southern Cone countries initiated in 1991 has led to the interruption of vector-borne transmissions to humans in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and parts of Argentina and greatly reduced populations in many Latin American countries (Schofield et al. 2006, Dias 2007), but the wild population of this species is still a risk for the disease return ( Noireau et al. 1995, Buitrago et al. 2010, 2013, Ceballos et al. 2011, Brenière et al. 2013).

Remarks. The melanic form found in peridomiciliar environments in Misiones has been considered a subspecies of T. infestans and later raised to species rank as Triatoma melanosoma (MartÍnez et al. 1987, Lent et al. 1994). Studies using several methods confirmed that T. melanosoma was a chromatic variant of T. infestans ( Noireau et al. 2000, Monteiro et al. 1999, Gumiel et al. 2003, Bargues et al. 2006, Ceballos et al. 2011). This vector is well studied, and hundreds of papers have been published about many aspects of this species especially using molecular methods ( Monteiro et al. 1999, Bargues et al. 2006, Ceballos et al. 2011, Torres-Pérez et al. 2011, Rosas et al. 2011, Brenière et al. 2013). The eggs of this triatomine can be parasited by Aprostocetus asthenogmus (Waterston, 1915) ( Hymenoptera , Eulophidae , Tetrastichinae ) under laboratory conditions ( Santos et al. 2014). It has been more than eight years since cases of reinfestation have not been found in the areas of Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul.