Molecular Identification and Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Haematobosca aberrans (Diptera: Muscidae)

Abstract

The genus Haematobosca Bezzi, 1907 (Diptera: Muscidae) contains haematophagous flies of veterinary importance. A new fly species of this genus was recognised from northern Thailand based on morphological characters and described as Haematobosca aberrans Pont, Duvallet & Changbunjong, 2020. In the present study, the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene was used to confirm the morphological identification of H. aberrans. In addition, landmark-based geometric morphometrics was used to determine sexual dimorphism. The molecular analysis was conducted with 10 COI sequences. The results showed that all sequences were 100% identical. The sequence was not highly similar to reference sequences from GenBank and did not match any identified species from Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). Phylogenetic analysis clearly differentiated this species from other species within the subfamily Stomoxyinae. For geometric morphometric analysis, a total of 16 wing pictures were analysed using the landmark-based approach. The results showed significant differences in wing shape between males and females, with a cross-validated classification score of 100%. The allometric analysis showed that wing shape has no correlation with size. Therefore, the COI gene is effective in species identification of H. aberrans, and geometric morphometrics is also effective in determining sexual dimorphism.

Wing Phenotypic Variation among Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae) Populations in Thailand

“…aegypti and Ae. albopictus ), Anopheles ( Anopheles albitarsis (Diptera: Culicidae), Anopheles cruzii (Diptera: Culicidae), Anopheles homunculus (Diptera: Culicidae), Anopheles strode (Diptera: Culicidae), and Anopheles triannulatus (Diptera: Culicidae)), Culex ( Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) and Culex nigripalpus (Diptera: Culicidae)), and Ochlerotatus ( Ochlerotatus scapularis (Diptera: Culicidae)) [ 49 ] and the biting fly Haematobosca aberrans (Diptera: Muscidae) [ 35 ]. Furthermore, sexual shape dimorphism in this study was correlated with sexual size dimorphism (female, 15%; male, 24%).…”

“…Geometric morphometric analysis can be performed using three methods: landmark, semi-landmark, and outline-based [ 14 , 29 , 30 ]. The landmark-based method is most widely used for insect vector species to distinguish morphological closely related species [ 31 , 32 ], identify species [ 14 , 32 ], examine the phenotypic variation among populations [ 14 , 33 , 34 ], and determine sexual dimorphism [ 35 ]. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the phenotypic variation in the wing size and shape of S. calcitrans among five populations in different geographical regions in Thailand based on a landmark-based geometric morphometric approach.…”

Intraspecific variation in wing geometry among Tabanus rubidus (Diptera: Tabanidae) populations in Thailand

“…Therefore, the differences in wing size were not affected by wing shape variation. Although correlations between wing size and shape have been found in many insects like blow flies (35), stable flies (36), mosquitoes (37), Haematobosca aberrans (38), and other Tabanus spp. (31), a few did not display this relationship due to variations caused by evolutionary divergence (20).…”

Landmark Data to Distinguish and Identify Morphologically Close Tabanus spp. (Diptera: Tabanidae)

“…Species recognition was performed on unambiguous specimens, i.e., those presenting clearly the specific traits or diagnostic characters, according to the descriptions and taxonomic keys of Burton (1978) [5]. Wing geometric morphometrics is increasingly used for insects of medical and veterinary importance to distinguish morphologically similar species, explore intraspecific variation among populations, and determine sexual dimorphism [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. The method is fast, low-cost, and easy to use [15].…”

“…Since DNA barcoding is unable to distinguish between T. striatus and T. megalops, alternative methods, such as geometric morphometrics, have become invaluable. Wing geometric morphometrics is increasingly used for insects of medical and veterinary importance to distinguish morphologically similar species, explore intraspecific variation among populations, and determine sexual dimorphism [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. The method is fast, low-cost, and easy to use [15].…”