an overview of the triatominae species of suriname was generated based on the specimens 
 and collection data available at the collections of the bureau of public health in 
 suriname ( bog ) and the national zoological collection of suriname ( nzcs ) , anton de kom 
 university , on the information provided by the natural history museum of leiden ( nhml ) 
 ( the netherlands ) and on a literature review .
as flora and fauna specimens collected during the colonial years 
 were often transported to the netherlands and stored at the nhml , the information on the 
 triatominae collection of this museum was included in this study .
the republic of suriname is situated on the caribbean coast between guyana and french 
 guiana , north of brazil .
1 ) that cover three major ecological landscapes : the northern 
 coastal area , the southern forested highlands and the savannah belt in between .
the 
 coastal area is mainly lowland with swamps and mangroves , but also has shell ridges ; it 
 is the most populated part of the country and almost all national agriculture is 
 performed that region .
the highlands in the interior are almost completely covered with 
 tropical rainforest ; however , deforestation , especially due to gold mining , is 
 increasing significantly .
this area has some inselbergs or tepuis and 
 small savannah areas along the south - southeastern border .
the savannah belt stretches 
 from east to west and separates the coastal lowlands from the interior highlands ( fig .
2 ) . 
 fig . 1 : map of suriname showing the 10 districts : 1 : nickerie ; 2 : coronie ; 3 : 
 saramacca ; 4 : para ; 5 : sipaliwini ; 6 : brokopondo ; 7 : wanica ; 8 : paramaribo 
 ( capital ) ; 9 : commewijne ; 10 : marowijne . 
 

fig . 2 : satellite image of suriname showing the coastal area ( yellow ) , the 
 savannah belt ( light brown ) and the forested highlands ( green ) . 
 
another 25% live in small 
 towns along the roads and rivers of the coastal area .
the remaining 5% of the population 
 live in small villages in the savannah belt and interior , mostly along the marowijne , 
 suriname and saramacca rivers .
in addition , there is a growing population of brazilian 
 mineral prospectors ( garimpeiros ; estimated to be at least 15,000 
 people ) involved in the rapidly growing , small - scale gold mining activities in the 
 interior .
suriname s tropical rainforest climate , with an average temperature of 27c and an 
 average humidity of approximately 80% , is advantageous for a number of triatominae 
 species .
active collection of triatominae was performed by the author as part of an nzcs project 
 in 2002 .
field surveys were conducted in kwamalasamutu ( south suriname , on the border 
 with brazil ) and in djoemoe and nieuw - aurora ( central suriname , along suriname river ) 
 using live - bait traps [ according to abad - franch et al . 

following this project and as a 
 result of mutual interest , the author and two colleagues started opportunistic 
 collection of the triatominae encountered in and around their residences .
the current combined amount of triatominae specimens in the three collections ( nhml , 
 nzcs and bog ) is 429 and represents seven species ( table i ) : 62.5% r. pictipes , 20.3% p. 
 geniculatus and 9.6% r. robustus .
the nzcs holds specimens collected from 1998 and the 
 bog collections started in 2005 .
a vast majority of the nzcs and bog specimens conserved 
 since 2002 originate from the opportunistic collection by the author and colleagues from 
 two of the three residences .
table ii provides 
 an overview of these triatominae , which were found at a residence in rural surroundings 
 in the district of wanica between 2002 - 2005 and at a residence , also in rural 
 surroundings , in the district of saramacca between 2002 - 2012 . at the wanica residence ,
a 
 total amount of 58 triatominae specimens were collected within the four years 
 ( r. pictipes , p. geniculatus , p. rufotuberculatus , p. lignarius ) , 
 mostly attracted to a light on the balcony .
the saramacca residence yielded 133 
 triatominae in 11 years ( r. pictipes , r. robustus , p. geniculatus ) . 

all these specimens were 
 included in either the nzcs or the bog insect collections ( table i ) . 

table itriatominae species of suriname  specimens n ( % ) 

 speciesnhmlbognzcstotal 
 eratyrus mucronatus 
 12 ( 7.9)0 ( 0)1 ( 0.6)13 ( 3 ) 
 microtriato trinidadensis 
 0 ( 0)0 ( 0)0 ( 0)0 ( 0 ) 
 panstrongylus geniculatus 
 47 ( 30.9)0 ( 0)40 ( 25.8)87 ( 20.3 ) 
 panstrongylus lignarius 
 2 ( 1.3)0 ( 0)1 ( 0.6)3 ( 0.7 ) 
 panstrongylus mitarakaensis 
 0 ( 0)0 ( 0)0 ( 0)0 ( 0 ) 
 panstrongylus rufotuberculatus 
 5 ( 3.3)0 ( 0)11 ( 7.1)16 ( 3.7 ) 
 rhodnius pictipes 
 73 ( 48)103 ( 84.4)92 ( 59.4)268 ( 62.5 ) 
 rhodnius robustus 
 12 ( 7.9)19 ( 15.6)10 ( 6.5)41 ( 9.6 ) 
 triatoma maculata 
 1 ( 0.7)0 ( 0)0 ( 0)1 ( 0.2)a : lent and wygodzinsky 
 ( 1979 ) refer to a m. trinidadensis specimen 
 originating from suriname and stored at the national history museum at 
 leiden ( nhml ) ( the netherlands ) .
this specimen no longer exists ; 
 b : the single known specimen of p. 
 mitarakaensis is in france ( french guiana ) ( brenger & blanchet 2007 ) . data on 
 number of specimens collected and their relative abundance ( % ) in the 
 collections ( until august 2013 ) from the nhml , bureau of public health in 
 suriname ( bog ) and the national zoological collection of suriname 
 ( nzcs ) . 
 
a : lent and wygodzinsky 
 ( 1979 ) refer to a m. trinidadensis specimen 
 originating from suriname and stored at the national history museum at 
 leiden ( nhml ) ( the netherlands ) .
this specimen no longer exists ; 
 b : the single known specimen of p. 
 mitarakaensis is in france ( french guiana ) ( brenger & blanchet 2007 ) . data on 
 number of specimens collected and their relative abundance ( % ) in the 
 collections ( until august 2013 ) from the nhml , bureau of public health in 
 suriname ( bog ) and the national zoological collection of suriname 
 ( nzcs ) . 

table iinumber of triatomine specimens found in a residence in saramacca ( s ) 
 between 2002 - 2012 and in a residence in wanica ( w ) between 2002 - 2005 as a 
 result of opportunistic collection 
 rhodnius 
 pictipes 

 rhodnius 
 robustus 

 panstrongylus 
 geniculatus 

 panstrongylus 
 rufotuberculatus 

 panstrongylus 
 lignarius 
 swswswswsw20022910190000200331960020500200475400103012005321001010020064 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 200710 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 200818 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 200921 - 10 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 201024 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 20112 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 20128 - 3 - 0 - 0 - 0- 

 total102353001130901 

 total / species n ( % ) 137 ( 71.7)30 ( 15.7)14 ( 7.3)9 ( 4.8)1 ( 0.5 ) 
  the active collection of triatominae in 2002 yielded very little .
the dissection of palm trees resulted in one adult 
 r. pictipes from kwamalasamutu and one r. robustus 
 nymph from nieuw aurora , both from maripa palm ( attalea 
 maripa ) .
the r. pictipes adult was found near an opossum 
 ( didelphidae ) nest , where it most likely found its blood meals .
the r. 
 robustus nymph was reared to adulthood before incorporation into the 
 collection .
. 
 confirmed species - six of the seven species of triatominae from 
 suriname currently represented in the historical collection of the nhml were also found 
 since 1998 , which confirms their presence in the country .
t. maculata , 
 collected in colonial times , was not found recently . according to lent and wygodzinsky ( 1979 ) , a specimen of 
 m. trinidadensis , collected in paramaribo , used to be present at the 
 nhml .
however , this is no longer the case and the species was not found in the country 
 during the recent collections .
the triatominae species known to be present in suriname 
 are e. mucronatus , p. geniculatus , panstrongylus mitarakaensis , p. 
 rufotuberculatus , p. lignarius , r. pictipes and r. 
 robustus . 
 
the presence of r. robustus , p. rufotuberculatus and p. 
 mitarakaensis in the country was not reported previously .
p. 
 mitarakaensis ( brenger & blanchet 
 2007 ) is a recently discovered species . it was obtained from a locality at the 
 mitaraka mountain range , situated between the litani river and marowijne river , which is 
 part of the southern border range between suriname and french guiana . 
 species in need of confirmation - the presence of four species requires 
 confirmation .
nonetheless , 
 its presence in suriname is entirely possible because a specimen was recently found in 
 french guiana , less than 200 km from suriname ( brenger 
 et al .
t. maculata was collected in colonial times , 
 but has not been seen found since .
2009 ) , where records of its presence 
 ( carcavallo et al . 1999 ) could not be 
 confirmed .
the species shows an inclination for occurrences in peridomestic or domestic 
 environments ( lent & wygodzinsky 1979 , luitgards - moura et al .
the fact that the species has not been 
 found since its first recordings allows for speculation that it may no longer exist in 
 the country or that previous identifications may have been incorrect .
the presence of 
 t. rubrofasciata in suriname was mentioned by lent ( 1943 ) based on a study by stoll in 1788 .
the distribution 
 range of t. rubrofasciata extends from florida and caribbean islands to 
 the northern and eastern atlantic coasts of south america ( carcavallo et al .
1999 ) and the species is reported from port cities 
 throughout its range ( lent & wygodzinsky 
 1979 , braga et al .
t. 
 rubrofasciata is known for its transmission of trypanosoma 
 conorhini among rats ( braga et al . 

its presence in suriname would be consistent with its known 
 distribution and is possible , though the species is unlikely to be abundant .
some 
 specimens are known from cayenne ( french guiana ) , collected in 1975 , but the species has 
 not been collected since ( brenger et al . 

the previous inclusion of suriname in the distribution area of r. prolixus 
 ( lent & wygodzinsky 1979 ) is 
 suspected due to misidentified r. robustus specimens .
r. 
 robustus is rather common and the two species are notoriously difficult to 
 separate morphologically ( miles et al .
the 
 distribution range of r. prolixus may in fact exclude the guiana shield 
 ( monteiro et al .
2003 , pavan & monteiro 2007 ) , which will make its presence in the 
 country even more unlikely . 

species likely to be present - some triatomine species known from 
 bordering regions or due to their currently known distribution range are likely to be 
 present in suriname as well .
c. pilosa , r. amazonicus and r. 
 paraensis were collected from northern brazil ( state of par ) and french 
 guiana ( carcavallo et al .
1999 , brenger et al . 2009 ) and are likely to be present in 
 the country .
of the seven confirmed triatominae species from suriname , only three can be considered 
 relatively abundant : p. geniculatus , r. pictipes and r. 
 robustus ( table i ) .
all three 
 species are likely to contribute directly or indirectly [ via 
 contamination of food sources ( nbrega et al . 

2009 ) ] to the transmission of trypanosoma cruzi to the human 
 population ( lent & wydgonzinsky 1979 , barrett 1991 , oostburg et al .
the collection data from the nzcs and bog reveal that , although there 
 is no domestic colonisation , it is common for the adults of these three species to enter 
 residences , which is as likely in the forest as it is in rural areas and in the capital 
 ( r. robustus excluded because it was not collected in the capital ) . 

it is thought that , depending on the peridomestic vegetation characteristics , these 
 species , especially r. robustus and r. pictipes , may 
 even establish large colonies near houses , surviving by opportunistic feeding on mammals 
 ( abad - franch et al .
r. pictipes is the most common species in all three insect collections 
 and was most often encountered during the opportunistic collections in and around the 
 residences in wanica and saramacca ( table ii ) 
 ( 71.7% of the total ) .
p. geniculatus was the second most frequently 
 encountered species in the nhml and nzcs collections , but is absent from the bog 
 collection .
its potential as a chagas disease vector is thought to be significant due to 
 its broad ecological range and its frequent occurrence in peridomestic habitats and 
 domiciliary invasion by adults ( gurgel - gonalves et al . 

p. geniculatus was the second most common species 
 collected from the wanica residence , but was encountered only once at the saramacca 
 residence .
in contrast , the saramacca residence had many r. robustus 
 specimens , whereas no specimens of this species were encountered in or around the wanica 
 residence ( table ii ) . considering that both 
 residences had an abundance of nearby vegetation ( including palm trees ) and a number of 
 dogs and other domestic animals , which provide a blood source around the house , it is 
 difficult to explain these differences .
environmental issues , such as vegetation 
 diversity and characteristics ( abad - franch et al . 
 2005 , 2010 ) , the ( resulting ) diversity 
 in the availability of wild blood sources and the availability of light sources as 
 attractants ( castro et al .
2010 ) may have played 
 a role . in the forests of the interior , the maroon , amerindian and garimpeiro 
 populations often live in thatch - roofed or zinc - roofed huts or houses with wooden walls . 

the relatively poor housing conditions , combined with the increased use of electric 
 lights as an attractant for the vectors ( castro et al . 

2010 ) , provide opportunity for the accidental entry of triatominae into 
 houses . factors that may further promote the entry of triatominae into houses include 
 land use changes ( e.g. , deforestation for gold mining ) ( barrett 1991 , abad - franch et al .
2005 ) 
 and the custom of keeping hunting dogs and chickens near sleeping quarters .
taking into account that the common triatominae species found in suriname are 
 palm - inhabiting species , chagas disease can be considered an occupational risk for 
 thatch and palm fruit harvesters .
in addition , palm fruit consumers can be considered at 
 risk for oral transmission ( roque et al . 2008 , 
 nbrega et al .
beverages made from the 
 fruit of euterpe luminosa ( aai ) are commercially 
 available throughout the country . 

t. cruzi transmission among wild mammals includes opossum and armadillo 
 ( roque et al .
opossums 
 ( didelphis spp ) are common in all eco - habitats in suriname and bring 
 the sylvatic cycle to domestic environments , thus adding to the transmission risk . 

armadillo ( dasypodinae ) and a number of rodents ( especially dasyproctidae ) , also 
 considered part of the t. cruzi wild reservoir ( sols - franco et al .
2008 ) , are regularly included in the diet of people living in the interior 
 of the country , which results in the risk of oral transmission .
the number of triatominae specimens collected from the two rural residences each year is 
 surprisingly high [ up to 31 specimens in one year ( 2009 ) to the saramacca residence ] 
 ( table ii ) .
both residences are near high 
 vegetation that includes palm trees and have some domestic animals ( especially dogs ) 
 living outside the house .
the 
 risk of triatomine - to - person contact appears to be considerable in such environments and 
 needs to be studied further .
the residences in paramaribo are mostly well - built , one or two - story brick homes with 
 small trees and palms in the surrounding yards and sometimes air - conditioning . entry 
 into houses by triatominae appears to be a bit less common than in rural areas , though 
 it is certainly not rare and may have been the source of the first case of acute 
 chagasic cardiopathy in suriname ( oostburg et al . 

the patient , living in a suburban residential area of paramaribo , had 
 adult p. geniculatus in his yard .
the actual risk of t. cruzi transmission , of course , depends largely on 
 the infection rate of the vectors . unfortunately , this information is not yet available 
 for suriname for any of the species found in the country . in comparison ,
a study in the 
 brazilian amazon revealed an infection rate for r. pictipes of 65% 
 ( valente et al .
determining the 
 infection rate for the three most common species in the country will be one of the 
 priorities of future studies and the determination of the seroprevalence of t. 
 cruzi infection among the population of suriname is a priority as well . 

studies in guyana and french guiana indicate an overall t. cruzi 
 seroprevalence of 0.5% for these countries ( aznar et al .
in 
 contrast , information on the seroprevalence of t. cruzi in the animal 
 reservoir of suriname does not exist .
bolboderini usinger , 1944 , m. trinidadensis ( lent , 1951 ) - the 
 inclusion of suriname in the distribution range of m. trinidadensis was 
 based on a specimen collected in paramaribo and conserved at the nhml ( lent & wygodzinsky 1979 ) .
the species is known from bromeliads and 
 was collected under tree bark ( lent & wygodzinsky 
 1979 ) , but has also been discovered ( in all developmental stages ) in 
 peridomestic environments ( de la riva et al . 

rhodniini pinto , 1926 , r. pictipes stl , 1872 - r. pictipes is a 
 widespread silvatic species that is frequently attracted to light and is known to enter 
 houses on occasion ( lent & wygodzinsky 1979 , 
 torres & cabrera 2010 ) .
it is the most 
 common species collected in suriname and was often collected in domestic habitats . 

distribution : districts of paramaribo , commewijne , wanica , para ( mapane ) , brokopondo 
 ( sara creek ) , saramacca , coronie , marowijne ( galibi ) and sipaliwini ( benzdorp , nieuw 
 aurora , apoera , coeroeni - island , kaboeri creek , bakhuys , kwamalasamutu ) . 

r. robustus larrousse , 1927 - some of the r. robustus 
 specimens from suriname were initially thought to be r. prolixus , but 
 mt - dna sequence analysis of the suriname specimens confirms them as  type 4 
( 2003 ) , which conforms to the estimated distribution of 
 genotypes in abad - franch and monteiro ( 2007 ) ] . 

distribution : 
 districts of saramacca , brokopondo ( klaaskreek ) , para ( republiek ) , marowijne ( galibi ) 
 and sipaliwini ( nieuw aurora ) . 

triatomini jeannel , 1919 , e. mucronatus stl , 1859 - e. mucronatus is a 
 sylvatic species with little epidemiological significance ( lent & wygodzinsky 1979 )
. it can be found in a variety of 
 habitats , including dry and wet tropical forests ( cuba 
 et al .
the one specimen found by the nzcs was collected in a 
 recreational room at brownsberg nature park , an ecotourist site situated at 500 m above 
 sea level in a humid tropical forest .
its role as a vector of chagas disease is 
 considered insignificant ( barrett 1991 ) , but 
 evidence of domestic capture exists ( torres & 
 cabrera 2010 ) . distribution : districts of paramaribo , brokopondo ( brownsberg ) 
 and para ( zanderij ) . 

p. geniculatus ( latreille , 1811 ) - p. geniculatus is a frequently 
 encountered species in suriname and is believed to have been the vector responsible for 
 the first acute case of chagas disease recorded in the country ( oostburg et al .
adults of this species are commonly attracted 
 to light and encountered in peridomestic environments ( lent & wygodzinsky 1979 , torres & 
 cabrera 2010 ) .
the species is thought to have the potential for domestication 
 and was found breeding in pigsties near human dwellings in brazil ( valente 1999 ) .
distribution : districts of paramaribo , commewijne , wanica , 
 para ( mapane ) , saramacca and sipaliwini ( nieuw aurora , sipaliwini savannah ) . 

p. lignarius ( walker , 1873 ) - the one specimen of p. 
 lignarius found by the nzcs came from a peridomestic situation , again most 
 likely attracted by an electric light .
this species was originally described by walker , 
 in 1873 , but was then redescribed by lent ( 1943 ) 
 based on a surinamese specimen provided by dc geijskes , a dutch entomologist . 

p. mitarakaensis brenger and blanchet , 
 2007 - p. mitarakaensis was described as a new species by brenger and blanchet ( 2007 ) based on a specimen 
 collected from a locality in the southeast of the mitaraka mountains ( tumakhumak 
 mountain range at the border with brazil ) , which is part of the southern border of 
 suriname with french guiana .
p. rufotuberculatus ( champion , 1899 ) - p. rufotuberculatus is also 
 frequently attracted to electric light ( lent & wygodnzinsky 1979 , salomn et al .
it is known mainly from low , 
 dry areas , but may also be found in zones of humid premontane forests ( abad - franch et al .
the species has been found 
 in domestic environments elsewhere ( torres & cabrera 
 2010 ) .
as originally described by champion ( 1899 ) , p. rufotuberculatus 
 shows considerable morphological variation .
the specimens encountered in 
 suriname have a reddish connexivum with a rectangular dark spot in each segment , 
 slightly biconcave and a thin black band close to the intersegmental suture .
the reddish 
 carinae , limiting the central depression of the scutellum , appear to be similar to those 
 found in specimens from panama and colombia [ as described by salomn et al .
( 1999 ) ] and distinct from specimens from costa rica , 
 venezuela , peru , bolivia and brazil , which generally present the scutellum entirely 
 black .
all post - colonial specimens originate from one residence in the district of 
 wanica .
t. maculata ( erichson , 1848 ) - one specimen of t. 
 maculata was reportedly captured in paramaribo .
this was in 1963 , when the 
 capital had greater abundance of vegetation , including palm trees .
t. maculata is a species with sylvatic and ( peri ) 
 domestic occurrences ( luitgards et al .
considering that the 
 species is not commonly found in a humid coastal habitat , the record needs confirmation 
 .
 nine species of triatominae , representing three tribes and five genera , are currently 
 known in suriname . 
 an annotated list of the species based on the collections of the 
 bureau of public health ( suriname ) , the national zoological collection suriname and 
 the national history museum leiden ( the netherlands ) is provided . 
 additionally , the 
 results of several years of opportunistic collection in two domestic environments are 
 presented . 
 the most common species are rhodnius pictipes stl , 
 1972 , rhodnius robustus larrouse , 1972 and panstrongylus 
 geniculatus ( latreille , 1811 ) . 
 the significance of the species as vectors 
 of chagas disease in suriname is discussed . 
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION