Psammolestes genus

Psammolestes (Bergroth 1911) - Three species. This is a silvatic genus, associated with birds.

1. Psammolestes arthuri (Colombia, Venezuela)
2. Psammolestes coreodes (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay)
3. Psammolestes tertius (Brazil)

Nota: Psammolestes salazari is a synonym of Psammolestes arthuri (Galvão et al. 2003).

Distribution:

Characteristics:

Three species of median size (12-15 mm). Share with Rhodnius genus:

- Callosities behind eyes strongly developed

- Insertion of antennae close to apex of head

- Dorsoventrally compressed

- General color light yellowish brown, with diffuse darker markings

- Head: subtriangular; distinctly less than twice as long as wide across eyes. Anteocular region from two to three times as long as postocular. Postocular region very short, from one-fourth to one-third as long as wide

- Antennae: Antenniferous tubercles short. First antennal segment extremely short

- Rostrum: strongly flattened dorsoventrally. First and third segments short; second segment twice as long as first, Apical segment rounded and centrally emarginated distally

- Femora: conspicuously widened and laterally compressed

Biology:

- Oviposition: in agglutinate form, dark eggs

- Host specificity: in nest of Furnariidae and Psittacidae

- Wild species, no relation with humans. No medical importance

Comparison between P. arthuri, P. coreodes and P. tertius:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aldana E, Lizano E, Ramon F & Valderrama A. 1996. Nueva especie de Psammolestes Bergroth de la región Sur-Occidental de Venezuela (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae). Caribbean J. Sci., 32(2): 145-149.

Aldana E, Viera D, Lizano E, Ramon F & Valderrama A. 1997. Morfología de Huevos y Ninfas de Psammolestes salazari (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae). Caribbean Journal of Science, 33(1-2): 70-74.

Bergroth, 1911. A new genus of Reduviidae. Psyche, 18: 114-115.

Cabrera R. 2006. Brief notes on Psammolestes tertius, Bergroth, 1911 (Reduviidae: Hemiptera): a wild triatomine. Anales de la Facultad de Medicina Lima, 67(4): 345-346.

Carcavallo RV, Otero MA, Tonn RJ & Ortega R. 1975. Notas sobre la biología, ecología e distribución geográfica de Psammolestes arthuri (Pinto, 1926) (Hemiptera, Reduviidae). Descripción de los estadios preimaginales. Bol. Dir. Malariol. San. Amb., 15(5): 231-239.

Carcavallo RU, Galindez Giron I, Jurberg J & Lent H. 1998. Atlas of Chagas’ disease vectors in the Americas. Vol I, II, III. FioCruz Edition.

Damborsky MP, Bar ME & Oscherov EB. 2001. Detection of triatomines (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in domiciliary and extra-domiciliary ecotopes. Corrientes, Argentina. Cad. Saúde Pública, 17(4) : 843-849.

Dujardin JP, Schofield CJ & Panzera F. 2000. Les vecteurs de la maladie de Chagas. Recherches taxonomiques, biologiques et génétiques. Académie Royales des Sciences d'Outre-Mer.

Galvão C, Carcavallo R, Da Silva Rocha D & Jurberg J. 2003. A checklist of the current valid species of the subfamily Triatominae Jeannel, 1919 (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) and their geographical distribution, with nomenclatural and taxonomic notes. Zootaxa, 202: 1-36.

Gurgel Gonçalves R, Duarte MA, Dias Ramalho E, Ramlo Torre Palma A, Agueda Romaña C & Cuba-Cuba CA. 2004. Spatial distribution of Triatominae populations (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Mauritia flexuosa palm trees in Federal District of Brazil. Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 37(3): 241-247.

Lent H. 1997. Novos sinônimos de duas espécies de Triatominae da Venezuela (Hemiptera, Reduviidae). Entomol Vect., 4(3): 67-70.

Lent H & Jurberg J. 1965. O gênero Psammolestes Bergroth, 1911, com um estudo sôbre a genitalia das espécies (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae). Rev. Brasileira Biol., 25(4): 349-376.

Lent H & Wygodzinsky P. 1979. Revision of the Triatominae (Hemiptera, Reduviidae), and their significance as vectors of Chagas disease. Bull. American Mus. Nat. Hist. 163 (Art. 3): 125-520.

Lima A da Costa. 1934. Sur l’existence au Brésil du Psammolestes coreodes Bergr. (Hemiptera, Reduviidae). Compte Rendu Sc. Soc. Biol. Paris., 116: 1155-1157.

Miles MA, de Souza AA & Povoa M. 1981. Chagas’ disease in the Amazon Basin. III. Ecotopes of ten triatomine bug species (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from the vicinity of Belem, Para State, Brazil. J. Med. Entomol., 18(4): 266-278.

Monteiro FA, Wesson DM, Dotson EM, Schofield CJ & Beard CB. 2000. Phylogeny and molecular taxonomy of the Rhodniini derived from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Am. J. Trop. Medicine and Hygiene, 62(4): 460-465.

Monteiro FA, Lazoski C, Noireau F & Solé-Cava AM. 2002. Allozyme relationships among ten species of Rhodniini, showing paraphyly of Rhodnius including Psammolestes. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 16: 83-90.

Pinto CF. 1926. Triatomideos da Venezuela, com descripção de uma nova espécie do género Eutriatoma (Eutriatoma arthuri n. sp.). Ann. Fac. Med. São Paulo., 1: 83-87.

Pinto CF & Lent H. 1935. Sôbre as espécies do gênero Psammolestes Berroth, 1911 (Hemiptera, Triatomidae). Ann. Acad. Brasileira Sci., 7(4): 333-337.

Schreiber G & Pellegrino J. 1950. Eteropicnosi di autosomi come possible mecanismo di speciazione (Ricerce citologiche su alcuni Emitteri neotropici). Sci. Genet., 3: 215-226.