The exotic palm Roystonea oleracea(Jacq.) O.F. Cook as a rural biotype for Rhodnius neglectus Lent, 1954, in Caçu, State of Goiás

Reporte y distribución potencial de una palma exótica ornamental (Roystonea oleracea) en Ecuador

Resumen La palma Roystonea oleracea, nativa del Caribe, ha sido introducida en varios países tropicales como planta ornamental e invade en humedales de Brasil, Guyana y Panamá. En este estudio reportamos la presencia de R. oleracea en la región de la costa del Ecuador donde es ampliamente cultivada como ornamental. Mediante una imagen de satélite estimamos la abundancia y cobertura de la especie en Isla Santay, un humedal Ramsar ubicado en el río Guayas cerca del perímetro urbano al sur de la ciudad de Guayaquil. También, realizamos un modelo de distribución potencial de R. oleracea en Ecuador, usando BIOCLIM. En Isla Santay, la especie está naturalizada y cubre alrededor de 43 hectáreas. El modelo de distribución potencial muestra que, además de Isla Santay, hay otros cinco humedales Ramsar en la costa ecuatoriana susceptibles climáticamente al establecimiento de R. oleracea. Debido al potencial invasivo de esta especie en humedales, se recomienda prohibir su uso como planta ornamental en áreas cercanas a humedales en Ecuador. Estudios que monitoreen la naturalización e impactos ecológicos de R. oleracea en humedales de Ecuador son requeridos para establecer prioridades de manejo y contribuir con la conservación de estos importantes ecosistemas.

On palms, bugs, and Chagas disease in the Americas

Palms are ubiquitous across Neotropical landscapes, from pristine forests or savannahs to large cities. Although palms provide useful ecosystem services, they also offer suitable habitat for triatomines and for Trypanosoma cruzi mammalian hosts. Wild triatomines often invade houses by flying from nearby palms, potentially leading to new cases of human Chagas disease. Understanding and predicting triatomine-palm associations and palm infestation probabilities is important for enhancing Chagas disease prevention in areas where palm-associated vectors transmit T. cruzi. We present a comprehensive overview of palm infestation by triatomines in the Americas, combining a thorough reanalysis of our published and unpublished records with an in-depth review of the literature. We use site-occupancy modeling (SOM) to examine infestation in 3590 palms sampled with non-destructive methods, and standard statistics to describe and compare infestation in 2940 palms sampled by felling-and-dissection. Thirty-eight palm species (18 genera) have been reported to be infested by ∼39 triatomine species (10 genera) from the USA to Argentina. Overall infestation varied from 49.1-55.3% (SOM) to 62.6-66.1% (dissection), with important heterogeneities among sub-regions and particularly among palm species. Large palms with complex crowns (e.g., Attalea butyracea, Acrocomia aculeata) and some medium-crowned palms (e.g., Copernicia, Butia) are often infested; in slender, small-crowned palms (e.g., Euterpe) triatomines associate with vertebrate nests. Palm infestation tends to be higher in rural settings, but urban palms can also be infested. Most Rhodnius species are probably true palm specialists, whereas Psammolestes, Eratyrus, Cavernicola, Panstrongylus, Triatoma, Alberprosenia, and some Bolboderini seem to use palms opportunistically. Palms provide extensive habitat for enzootic T. cruzi cycles and a critical link between wild cycles and transmission to humans. Unless effective means to reduce contact between people and palm-living triatomines are devised, palms will contribute to maintaining long-term and widespread, albeit possibly low-intensity, transmission of human Chagas disease.