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Phenotypic characterization of male wing traits in sand flies of the subtribe Psychodopygina (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) from Brazil.

Lidiane de Nazaré Carvalho de Oliveira,B. Rodrigues,Yetsenia del Valle Sánchez Uzcátegui,Danielly Mota Neves,Thiago Vasconcelos dos Santos

Published 2026 in Acta Tropica

ABSTRACT

The sand fly subtribe Psychodopygina includes several taxa of epidemiological relevance and presents long-standing systematic challenges. Although only females act as vectors of Leishmania, males provide the most reliable diagnostic characters for species delimitation and comparative morphology. In this study, geometric morphometrics was applied to male wing traits to characterize phenotypic variation and to evaluate the phylogenetic signal of wing shape across Psychodopygina species from Brazil. Thirteen homologous landmarks were digitized on male wings from representatives of seven genera. Shape and size variation were analyzed using Procrustes superimposition, principal component analysis, canonical variate analysis, and centroid size comparisons. Similarity relationships were explored using distance-based clustering methods, and phylogenetic signal was tested using a COI-based molecular tree obtained from public databases. Wing shape exhibited a strong and significant phylogenetic signal, whereas centroid size did not. Genera differed consistently in wing shape, with Viannamyia showing the most divergent morphology. These results demonstrate that male wing shape contains evolutionary information relevant to systematics and can complement molecular data in studies of Psychodopygina diversity.

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