Panstrongylus geniculatus

Panstrongylus geniculatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Family: Reduviidae
Genus: Panstrongylus
Species:
P. geniculatus
Binomial name
Panstrongylus geniculatus
(Latreille, 1811)

Panstrogylus geniculatus is a blood-sucking sylvatic insect noted as a putative vector of minor importance in the transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi to humans; this is a parasite, which causes Chagas disease. The insect is described as sylvatic; subsisting primarily in humid forests, and is also known to inhabit vertebrate nesting places such as those of the armadillo (dasypus novemcinctus or dasypus),[1] and is also involved in enzootic transmission of T. cruzi to those species. It has wide distribution throughout 16 Latin American countries.[2]

There have been few scientific studies of this particular species because of the low number of collected specimens and difficulties in rearing and maintaining populations in the laboratory. However, currently P. geniculatus is receiving attention as a potential vector of Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) due to reports of this species invading the domestic and peridomestic habitats over a vast area: Venezuela,[3] Colombia,[4] Brazil,[5] Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina.

P. geniculatus is apparently in the process of domiciliation, using the same strategies as highly domesticated species like Triatoma infestans and Rhodnius prolixus. This is also the case for other sylvatic triatomine species (Triatominae) that are experiencing similar ecological pressures originating from human disruption of the natural habitat.

  1. ^ Miles MA, de Souza AA, Póvoa M (1981). "Chagas' disease in the Amazon basin III. Ecotopes of ten triatomine bug species (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from the vicinity of Belém, Pará State, Brazil". J Med Entomol. 18 (4): 266–78. doi:10.1093/jmedent/18.4.266. PMID 6790704.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Dujardin J.P.; Schofield C.J.; Panzera F. (2002). "Los vectores de la Enfermedad de Chagas". Interciencia. 8 (6): 348–95.
  3. ^ Feliciangeli MD, Carrasco H, Patterson JS, Suarez B, Martinez C, Medina M (October 2004). "Mixed domestic infestation by Rhodnius prolixus Stal, 1859 and Panstrongylus geniculatus Latreille, 1811, vector incrimination, and seroprevalence for Trypanosoma cruzi among inhabitants in El Guamito, Lara State, Venezuela" (PDF). Am J Trop Med Hyg. 71 (4): 501–5. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2004.71.501. PMID 15516649. S2CID 32263692.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Wolff M, Castillo D (2000). "Evidencias de domesticación y aspectos biológicos de Panstrogylus geniculatus (Latreille, 1811) (Hemiptera: Rediviidae)". Acta Entomol Chil. 24: 77–83.
  5. ^ Valente VC, Valente SA, Noireau F, Carrasco HJ, Miles MA (1998). "Chagas disease in the Amazon Basin: association of Panstrongylus geniculatus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) with domestic pigs" (PDF). J Med Entomol. 35 (2): 99–103. doi:10.1093/jmedent/35.2.99. PMID 9538568.