Genetic Relationships Among Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the verrucarum Species Group

Abstract

Isozyme data were used to identify populations of certain Lutzomyia taxa in the verrucarum species group, mostly in the series townsendi. Lutzomyia youngi Feliciangelis and Murillo and L. spinicrassa Morales, Osorno, Osorno, and Hoyos each have diagnostic allomorphs for phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) and fumarate hydratase (FUM). The 6PGDH and FUM data and those from 6-phospho-fructokinase and phosphoglucomutase distinguish Lutzomyia sp., a new species from Columbia to be described and named later. Data from these enzymes and glucose phosphate isomerase will separate L. townsendi (Ortiz) from the others and from L. longiflocosa Osorno, Morales, Osorno, and Hoyos, L. quasitownsendi Morales, Osorno, Osorno, and Hoyos, and L. sauroida Osorno, Morales, and Osorno (three species that are inseparable using enzyme data). Three other species, L. serrana (Damasceno and Arouck) (series serrana) and L. columbiana (Ristorcelli and Van Ty) and L. andina Osorno, Osorno, and Morales (both in series verrucarum), are morphologically distinct using conventional characters and have fixed diagnostic differences at several enzyme loci. Statistical analyses of the enzyme data using genetic identities (I), differences (D), and the amount of genetic variation among these taxa indicated that such statistics can be as useful in the study of sand fly phylogeny and population genetics as they have been for other organisms. I and D values indicated that L. longiflocosa, L. quasitownsendi, and L. sauroida are very similar (I = 0.991 and D = 0.010) and possibly are populations of the same conspecific species. The levels of divergence, based on combined enzyme data for up to 21 gene loci among the taxa, are discussed, and a dendrogram based on genetic distance is presented. The genetic data confirmed established phylogenetic relationships among the sand fly taxa based on structural similarities.

Isolation ofLeishmania (Viannia) braziliensisfromLutzomyia spinicrassa(species groupVerrucarum) Morales Osorno Mesa, Osorno & Hoyos 1969, in the Venezuelan Andean Region

“…L utzomyia spinicrassa is a phlebotomine sandfly belonging to the species group Verrucarum, series townsendi (Kreutzer et al, 1990;Feliciangeli et al, 1992;Young & Duncan, 1994). Females in this series show four teeth in the cibarium and sac-like spermathecae that make them indistinguishable.…”

Genetic variability in biochemical characters of Brazilian field populations of the Leishmania vector, Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae).

“…31 For the most part, phlebotomine sand flies have been neglected in extensive genetic studies of field populations. Recently, such studies have begun, focusing on Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) in the Old World 32 and several Lutzomyia species in the New World, including the L. townsendi Series, 33 L. carrerai/ yucumensis, 34 and L. longipalpis. 19,22,[35][36][37][38] The present report describes enzyme polymorphisms and their frequencies in widely distributed field populations of L. longipalpis across its most concentrated distribution, i.e., in Brazil.…”

Comparación cariotípica de cinco especies de Lutzomyia (diptera: psychodidae) de la serie townsendi grupo verrucarum en Colombia.

“…En un trabajo previo, Kreutzer et al (4), con datos obtenidos de isoenzimas, establecieron las relaciones genéticas de diez especies de Lutzmoyia del grupo verrucarum y encontraron que L. longiflocosa, L. quasitownsendi y L. sauroida, a diferencia de las otras especies analizadas, eran poblaciones locales de una misma especie. Para el caso de las dos primeras especies, que también fueron incluidas en el presente trabajo, hubo aproximación entre ellas en los valores de la longitud total del genoma, que coincidieron en la misma agrupación, al igual que L. torvida y L. spinicrassa; también fueron similares en la clasificación de sus cariotipos, de acuerdo con los parámetros establecidos por Zimmermann y Shivonnen (25); sin embargo, no ocurrió lo mismo al asociar todos los caracteres, correspondiendo L. longiflocosa y L. quasitownsendi a grupos distintos en el fenograma y tampoco fue coincidente esta agrupación con el análisis genético previo antes mencionado.…”

“…El grupo de flebótomos verrucarum (1,2) está constitutido por 28 especies distribuidas en tres series diferentes: serrana, townsendi y verrucarum (3)(4)(5)(6). Estos insectos se encuentran en la mayor par te del neotrópico y son especialmente abundantes en áreas montañosas, donde las hembras de varias especies han sido incriminadas como vectores de Leishmania y Bartonella bacilliformis (7,8).…”