Panstrongylus megistus (Burmeister, 1835)

Panstrongylus megistus (Burmeister, 1835) View in CoL

Fig. 6

Distribution. Acre, Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal, EspÍrito Santo, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, ParaÍba, Paraná, Pernambuco, PiauÍ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Sergipe and Tocantins. Public health importance. This is the first triatomine to be recognized as a vector of Chagas disease ( Chagas 1909) and the fourth vector in importance of this disease ( WHO 2020). It is striking that some authors of the first half of past century stated that it was an exclusive domestic species (e.g., Brumpt 1936), although it was primarily native from the Brazilian forests, where it is commonly found. It was considered as the main domestic vector in Brazil before 1930s when it started to be progressively replaced by T. infestans . However, following the success of the control program in the southern cone, T. infestans was eliminated in many areas ( Dias and Schofield 1999), and P. megistus initiated a new process of invasion and domiciliation in several states of Brazil. It is currently considered to be the main domestic vector of Chagas disease in the central, eastern, and southeastern regions of Brazil ( Patterson et al. 2009, Castro et al. 2018). It feeds on the blood of mammals, including rodents, opossums, and humans ( Lent and Wygodzinsky 1979, Pires et al. 2002a).

Remarks. The bionomics of this vector is relatively well-studied ( Pires et al. 2002a, 2002b, 2004).