Triatominae as a model of morphological plasticity under ecological pressure

• Main Authors: Dujardin JP, Panzera P, Schofield CJ
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 1999-01-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: Triatominae; ecological factors; morphological plasticity
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761999000700036

The use of biochemical and genetic characters to explore species or population relationships has been applied to taxonomic questions since the 60s. In responding to the central question of the evolutionary history of Triatominae, i.e. their monophyletic or polyphyletic origin, two important questions arise (i) to what extent is the morphologically-based classification valid for assessing phylogenetic relationships? and (ii) what are the main mechanisms underlying speciation in Triatominae? Phenetic and genetic studies so far developed suggest that speciation in Triatominae may be a rapid process mainly driven by ecological factors.