Annual Variability of Wing Morphology in Culex sitiens Wiedemann (Diptera, Culicidae) Mosquito Vectors from the Coastal Area of Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand

Culex sitiens Wiedemann (Diptera, Culicidae) is a mosquito vector that is found in coastal areas. Effective control of mosquitoes requires knowledge of the biology, ecology, and behavior of the vector as well as of various other aspects, including its morphology. Currently, variations in the wing size and shape of coastal Cx. sitiens have not been described. Here, morphological changes were studied in the wings of Cx. sitiens from a coastal area of Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand. Samples were collected at night (6:00 pm–6:00 am) during single weeks of September in the years 2015–2017 using Center for Disease Control light traps with dry ice as bait. Eighteen landmarks of each individual were selected and digitized for landmark-based geometric morphometric analyses. Wing size variability was estimated using the isometric estimator of centroid size. Wing-shape variables were computed as Procrustes superimposition with residual coordinates of the 18 landmarks following a Generalized Procrustes Analysis and the principal components of residual coordinates. Degrees of wing-shape dissimilarity among individuals were analyzed using discriminant analysis or canonical variate analysis, which was illustrated in a discriminant space of canonical variables. Differences in wing size and shape among populations were calculated using nonparametric permutations based on 1000 runs with Bonferroni correction tests at a p-value of <0.05. The wing sizes and shapes of the mosquitoes differed significantly between observation years in all population groups, as indicated by nonparametric tests (1000 runs) with the Bonferroni correction. Differing rainfall between observation years was related to morphological changes in mosquito populations, presumably reflecting environmental adaptation. Differences in the wing morphology of Cx. sitiens between annual populations reflect adaptation to environmental variables such as rainfall and may affect the potential to act as insect vectors of human disease. These observations may facilitate the development of tools for managing mosquito-borne disease.

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Conserved and Divergent Aspects of Plasticity and Sexual Dimorphism in Wing Size and Shape in Three Diptera

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.660546 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Micael Reis ◽

Natalia Siomava ◽

Ernst A. Wimmer ◽

Nico Posnien

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Developmental Plasticity ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Ecological Niches ◽

Specific Response ◽

Wing Size ◽

Wing Morphology ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Rearing Conditions ◽

The Impact

The ability of powered flight in insects facilitated their great evolutionary success allowing them to occupy various ecological niches. Beyond this primary task, wings are often involved in various premating behaviors, such as the generation of courtship songs and the initiation of mating in flight. These specific functions imply special adaptations of wing morphology, as well as sex-specific wing morphologies. Although wing morphology has been extensively studied in Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen, 1830), a comprehensive understanding of developmental plasticity and the impact of sex on wing size and shape plasticity is missing for other Diptera. Therefore, we raised flies of the three Diptera species Drosophila melanogaster, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) and Musca domestica (Linnaeus, 1758) at different environmental conditions and applied geometric morphometrics to analyze wing shape. Our data showed extensive interspecific differences in wing shape, as well as a clear sexual wing shape dimorphism in all three species. We revealed an impact of different rearing temperatures on wing shape in all three species, which was mostly explained by plasticity in wing size in D. melanogaster. Rearing densities had significant effects on allometric wing shape in D. melanogaster, while no obvious effects were observed for the other two species. Additionally, we did not find evidence for sex-specific response to different rearing conditions in D. melanogaster and C. capitata, while a male-specific impact of different rearing conditions was observed on non-allometric wing shape in M. domestica. Overall, our data strongly suggests that many aspects of wing morphology underly species-specific adaptations and we discuss potential developmental and functional implications of our results.

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The Cheilosia canicularis group (Diptera: Syrphidae): species delimitation and evolutionary relationships based on wing geometric morphometrics

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.1825.1.4 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1825 (1) ◽

pp. 40 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

JASMINA LUDOŠKI ◽

LJUBINKA FRANCUSKI ◽

ANTE VUJIĆ ◽

VESNA MILANKOV

Keyword(s):

Sequence Data ◽

Balkan Peninsula ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Canonical Variate ◽

Wing Size ◽

Shape Variation ◽

Geometric Morphometric ◽

Mahalanobis Distances ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Upgma Cluster Analysis

A landmark-based geometric morphometric approach was used to assess differences in the size and shape of wing among/within three species of the Cheilosia canicularis group (Diptera: Syrphidae): C. canicularis, C. himantopus and C. orthotricha. Wing size and shape variation was observed from 25, 176 and 41 specimens of C. canicularis, C. himantopus and C. orthotricha, respectively, collected from six localities on the Balkan Peninsula. Significant differences in wing size were obtained among the analysed species and canonical variate analysis showed that wing shape was sufficiently different to allow the correct classification of 73% individuals of C. canicularis, 80% of C. orthotricha and 94% of C. himantopus, and clear delimitation of the species pairs C. canicularis/C. orthotricha and C. himantopus/C. orthotricha. In all analysed species, the consistent sex dimorphism in wing shape was observed indicating that female specimens had shorter and broader wings than males. The UPGMA cluster analysis based on squared Mahalanobis distances revealed close accordance with previously published phylogenetic relationships of these species indicated by allozyme and DNA sequence data analysis. Our results suggested that wing parameters contain useful information in quantification phenotypic variation and identification of species in this challenging group for taxonomy and systematics.

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Using the modern morphometric approach to determine sexual dimorphism of three medically important flies (Order: Diptera) in Thailand

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity ◽

10.13057/biodiv/d200542 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

TANAWAT CHAIPHONGPACHARA ◽

SEDTHAPONG LAOJUN

Keyword(s):

Sexual Dimorphism ◽

Sex Differentiation ◽

Common Factor ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Procrustes Analysis ◽

Size Analysis ◽

Wing Size ◽

Geometric Morphometric ◽

Generalized Procrustes Analysis ◽

Males And Females

Abstract. Chaiphongpachara T, Laojun S. 2019. Using the modern morphometric approach to determine sexual dimorphism of three medically important flies (Order: Diptera) in Thailand. Biodiversitas 20: 1482-1486. This study assessed landmark-based geometric morphometric (GM) approach to determine sexual dimorphism of three medically important flies in Thailand, Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius), Musca domestica (Linnaeus) and Boettcherisca nathani (Lopes). In the wing size analysis, the centroid size (CS) was computed to estimate the wing size. During wing shape analysis, shape variables were analyzed from principal components of partial warp scores calculated after generalized procrustes analysis of coordinates. Non-parametric permutation-based tests (1000 cycles) were used (after Bonferroni correction) at p < 0.05 for statistical comparisons of sizes and shapes between males and females in each fly species. The results of this study, analysis of wing size for sexual dimorphism based on wing CS did not find statistical differences in flies of any type (p > 0.05). However, not the size, the shape of the wings is a common factor used in identification of sexual dimorphism. The wing shape in all species was different between male and female sexes. These results have shown that the GM approach was effective in identifying the sexual dimorphism of C. megacephala, M. domestica and B. nathani, which is one way to help with sex differentiation in cases of incomplete specimens that cannot be classified by morphological methods.

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Contrasting Responses of Wing Morphology of Three Blowfly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Species to Competition

Journal of Medical Entomology ◽

10.1093/jme/tjz211 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 (3) ◽

pp. 738-744

Author(s):

M P Macedo ◽

L C Arantes ◽

R Tidon

Keyword(s):

Interspecific Competition ◽

Intraspecific Competition ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Lucilia Sericata ◽

Calliphora Vicina ◽

Wing Size ◽

Wing Morphology ◽

Behavioral Traits ◽

Directional Change

Abstract Competition influences the expression of morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits and also regulates ecological and evolutionary dynamics. This study aims to identify and characterize changes in wing morphology in response to intra- and interspecific competition in three necrophagous blowfly species. Using geometric morphometry, we analyzed 3,238 wings from Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826), Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830, and C. vomitoria (Linnaeus, 1758) raised under cloistered and pairwise conditions. The three species reacted similarly to intraspecific competition—reducing wing size with increased competition—but displayed contrasting patterns of response to interspecific competition. Lucilia sericata displayed a directional change in wing shape in response to an interspecific competitor, while C. vicina increased the scattering of individuals across the morphospace, and C. vomitoria displayed no significant change in response to the same stimulus. Our results show that the same stimulus yields distinctive responses; thus, different competition-related strategies are expected to occur in the three species.

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Sexual dimorphism in Ephedrus persicae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae): intraspecific variation in size and shape

The Canadian Entomologist ◽

10.4039/n09-029 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 141 (6) ◽

pp. 550-560 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ana Mitrovski Bogdanović ◽

Ana Ivanović ◽

Željko Tomanović ◽

Vladimir Žikić ◽

Petr Starý ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Dimorphism ◽

Intraspecific Variation ◽

Size Variation ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Species Variation ◽

Wing Size ◽

Aphid Parasitoid ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Variation Patterns ◽

Wide Range

AbstractSexual dimorphism in size and shape has been studied in a wide range of organisms, but intraspecific variation in sexual dimorphism remains largely unexplored. In many parasitoid species the diversity of morphological-variation patterns within species is complicated by host effects. It is not known whether the magnitude and direction of sexual size dimorphism can be affected by the developmental environment (i.e., different host species). In this study we explored patterns of sexual dimorphism in size and shape in the aphid parasitoid Ephedrus persicae Froggatt. The analyzed sample consisted of 83 females and 54 males reared from five species of host aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from various areas of the Palaearctic region. The most notable result of the study is that E. persicae displays divergent patterns of sexual dimorphism in body size and wing size: females have larger bodies than males, but males have larger wings. Our analysis of wing size and wing shape also showed significant within species variation in the degree and pattern of sexual dimorphism. Variation in wing shape between the sexes seems to be more conserved than variation in wing size. Variation in wing shape is influenced predominantly by host (biotype) and to a lesser extent by sexual dimorphism within a biotype.

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Wing shape as a potential discriminator of morphologically similar pest taxa within the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1017/s0007485311000423 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 102 (1) ◽

pp. 103-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

M.K. Schutze ◽

A. Jessup ◽

A.R. Clarke

Keyword(s):

Species Complex ◽

Fruit Fly ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Bactrocera Dorsalis ◽

Canonical Variate ◽

Wing Size ◽

Agricultural Pests ◽

Geometric Morphometric ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Shape Data

AbstractFour morphologically cryptic species of the Bactrocera dorsalis fruit fly complex (B. dorsalis s.s., B. papayae, B. carambolae and B. philippinensis) are serious agricultural pests. As they are difficult to diagnose using traditional taxonomic techniques, we examined the potential for geometric morphometric analysis of wing size and shape to discriminate between them. Fifteen wing landmarks generated size and shape data for 245 specimens for subsequent comparisons among three geographically distinct samples of each species. Intraspecific wing size was significantly different within samples of B. carambolae and B. dorsalis s.s. but not within samples of B. papayae or B. philippinensis. Although B. papayae had the smallest wings (average centroid size=6.002 mm±0.061 SE) and B. dorsalis s.s. the largest (6.349 mm±0.066 SE), interspecific wing size comparisons were generally non-informative and incapable of discriminating species. Contrary to the wing size data, canonical variate analysis based on wing shape data discriminated all species with a relatively high degree of accuracy; individuals were correctly reassigned to their respective species on average 93.27% of the time. A single sample group of B. carambolae from locality ‘TN Malaysia’ was the only sample to be considerably different from its conspecific groups with regards to both wing size and wing shape. This sample was subsequently deemed to have been originally misidentified and likely represents an undescribed species. We demonstrate that geometric morphometric techniques analysing wing shape represent a promising approach for discriminating between morphologically cryptic taxa of the B. dorsalis species complex.

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Wing Metric Variation in Aedes aegypti Effect of Altitude on Wing Metric Variation of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) in a Region of the Colombian Central Andes

10.1101/2020.01.29.924746 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Luis M. Leyton-Ramos ◽

Oscar Alexander Aguirre-Obando ◽

Jonny Edward Duque ◽

Víctor Hugo García-Merchán

Keyword(s):

Aedes Aegypti ◽

Fluctuating Asymmetry ◽

Altitudinal Gradient ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Small Scale ◽

Wing Size ◽

Shape Variation ◽

Size And Shape ◽

Metric Variation ◽

Shape And Size

AbstractIn mosquitoes of medical importance, wing shape and size can vary with altitude, an aspect that can influence dispersion and, consequently, their vector capacity. Using geometric morphometry analysis, Aedes aegypti wing size and shape variation of males and females was studied in four altitudes in the second-smallest department in Colombia: 1.200 m (Tebaida), 1.400 m (Armenia), 1.500 m (Calarcá), and 1.700 m (Filandia). Wing shape in males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001) was significantly different through the altitudinal gradient; in turn, wing size in males followed the altitudinal gradient (Males R2 = 0.04946, P = 0.0002), Females (R2 = 0.0011, P = 0.46). Wing allometry for males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001) was significant. Likewise, the shape and size of the wings of males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001) had significant fluctuating asymmetry. It is concluded that, in a small scale with an altitudinal variation of 500 meters, it is detected that the size and shape of the wings varied in A. aegypti, principal vector of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. The fluctuating asymmetry is present in the individuals studied and could be associated with environmental effects caused by vector control campaigns present in some sampling locations.

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Wing shape variations in an invasive moth are related to sexual dimorphism and altitude

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1017/s000748530999054x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 100 (5) ◽

pp. 529-541 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

N. Hernández-L. ◽

Á.R. Barragán ◽

S. Dupas ◽

J.-F. Silvain ◽

O. Dangles

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Sexual Dimorphism ◽

High Altitude ◽

Morphological Changes ◽

Morphological Evolution ◽

Empirical Support ◽

Wing Shape ◽

Invasion Success ◽

Wing Morphology ◽

Invasive Insects

AbstractWing morphology has great importance in a wide variety of aspects of an insect's life. Here, we use a geometric morphometric approach to test the hypothesis that variation, in insect wing morphology patterns, occurs between sexes and along altitudinal gradients for invasive species, despite their recent association to this environment. We explored the variation in wing morphology between 12 invasive populations of the invasive potato pest, Tecia solanivora, at low and high altitude in the central highlands of Ecuador. After characterizing sexual dimorphism in wing shape, we investigated if moths at higher elevations differ in wing morphology from populations at lower altitudes. Results indicate wing shape and size differences between sexes and between altitudinal ranges. Females showed larger, wider wings than males, while high altitude moths showed larger, narrow-shaped wings by comparison to low-altitude moths. GLM analyses confirmed altitude was the only significant determinant of this gradient. Our study confirms a sexual dimorphism in size and wing shape for the potato moth. It also confirms and extends predictions of morphological changes with altitude to an invasive species, suggesting that wing morphology variation is an adapted response contributing to invasion success of the potato moth in mountainous landscapes. Ours is one of the first studies on the morphology of invasive insects and represents a valuable contribution to the study of insect invasions because it both offers empirical support to previous genetic studies on T. solanivora as well as proving broader insight into the mechanisms behind morphological evolution of a recently introduced pest.

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