Triatoma sanguisuga ( LeConte, 1855 ), 2013

Rengifo-Correa, Laura, Téllez-Rendón, Juan Luis, Esteban, Lyda, Huerta, Herón & Morrone, Juan J., 2021, The Triatoma phyllosoma species group (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae), vectors of Chagas disease: Diagnoses and a key to the species, Zootaxa 5023 (3), pp. 335-365 : 357

Triatoma sanguisuga ( LeConte, 1855)

( Fig. 6D )

Conorhinus sanguisuga LeConte, 1855: 404 ; Walsh & Riley, 1869: 87; Marlatt, 1896: 38; Kimball, 1896: 128; Howard, 1900:

28. Conorhinus lateralis Stål, 1859: 107 . Conorhinus variegatus Stål, 1872: 111 (non Drury, 1773). Triatoma sanguisuga ; Kirkaldy, 1907: 156; Neiva, 1914: 63; Van Duzee, 1916: 29, 1917: 248; Blatchley, 1926: 554; Readio,

1927: 120; Froeschner, 1944: 652; Usinger, 1944: 67; Olsen, 1966: 1; Lent & Wygodzinsky, 1979: 321; Carcavallo et al.,

2000: 28; Galvão et al., 2003: 13; Schofield & Galvão, 2009: 92; Monteiro et al., 2018: 284. Triatoma sanguisuga ambigua Neiva, 1911: 422 ; Usinger, 1944: 68. Triatoma pintoi Larrousse, 1926: 138 ; Del Ponte, 1930: 913. Triatoma ambigua Davis et al., 1943: 353 . Triatoma sanguisuga texana Usinger, 1944: 69 .

Diagnosis. Male body length 15.5–22.0 mm. Female body length 20.5–23.0 mm. Postocular region distinctly rounded in dorsal view. Neck reddish or dark with 1+1 lateral reddish spots. Overall color of pronotum dark brown to black, with orange red to yellowish lateral margins and, in many cases, collar, anterolateral angles, and humeral disc. Humeral angles rounded. Overall color of hemelytra from light to dark brown. Corium with reddish orange or yellowish areas, large basal triangular mark, and small subapical spot. Fore femora relatively short, 4.5 times as long as wide. Fore and mid tibiae of male with small spongy fossula, absent in female. Overall color of connexival segments dark brown, with the posterior third or fourth orange-red or yellowish.

Specimens examined. None.

Distribution. USA: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mariland, Mississipi, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia ( Bern et al. 2011; 2020). We believe that a probable record of T. sanguisuga in the state of Mexico, Mexico ( Galvão et al. 2003; Bern et al. 2011) does not correspond to the true distribution. Records of this species in Mexico probably correspond to an early misidentification with T. indictiva , formerly treated as its subspecies.

Comments. This species exhibits large variability in color pattern and size. Extension of light-colored areas of pronotum, corium and connexival segments exhibits variation between specimens ( Lent & Wygodzinsky 1979). Coloration pattern of the type specimen can be consulted in figures 20–23 from Rodrigues et al. (2020). Specimens usually are 20 mm or more, but they are smaller in the southernmost area of its distribution. Triatoma sanguisuga was related to T. lecticularia and T. indictiva ( Lent & Wygodzinsky 1979; Schofield & Galvão 2009). De la Rúa et al. (2014) suggested inclusion of T. sanguisuga in the T. phyllosoma complex, considering head morphometry and ITS-2 phylogeny. Similarly, inclusion of T. sanguisuga in the T. phyllosoma species group is supported by ultraconserved elements of molecular data ( Kieran et al. 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Triatoma spp. A, T. phyllosoma; B, T. picturata; C, T. recurva; D, T. sanguisuga (6D courtesy of C. Dale).