Triatominae: does the shape change of non-viable eggs compromise species recognition?

Parasites & Vectors

Table 3 Mean values of size and standard deviation of the complete egg contour (square root of the area within the egg boundary) and of its operculum (centroid size of the operculum) for viable eggs (V), non-viable eggs (NV) and both

Species		V	NV	P-value^*	V + NV
P. c.	Egg	1.34 ± 0.04^a	1.36 ± 0.05^a	0.089	1.35 ± 0.04^a
P. c.	Operculum	0.74 ± 0.03^e	0.74 ± 0.03^d	0.834	0.74 ± 0.03^d
P. h.	Egg	1.27 ± 0.03^b	1.27 ± 0.04^b	0.722	1.26 ± 0.04^b
P. h.	Operculum	0.77 ± 0.03^f	0.80 ± 0.05^e	<0.001	0.78 ± 0.04^e
T. c.	Egg	1.21 ± 0.03^c	1.26 ± 0.04^b	0.000	1.22 ± 0.04^c
T. c.	Operculum	0.70 ± 0.02^g	0.71 ± 0.03^f	0.219	0.70 ± 0.02^f
R. e.	Egg	1.09 ± 0.03^d	1.09 ± 0.04^c	0.605	1.09 ± 0.04^d
R. e.	Operculum	0.74 ± 0.02^h	0.73 ± 0.03	0.678	–

Abbreviations: P. c. Panstrongylus chinai, P. h. P. howardi, T. c. Triatoma carrioni, R. e. Rhodnius ecuadoriensis
^*P-values, statistical significance for the comparison of mean sizes between V eggs and NV eggs. If means are different between species, the superscripts (a-h) show different letters. These letters must be read within each column, not between columns. Mean and standard deviation are expressed in millimeters

ISSN: 1756-3305