Morphometric analysis in Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) species

This work deals with the intra- and interespecific variations in Trichogramma species, using the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to evaluate the ordination standard among some species. Six Trichogramma species (143 specimens) namely T. acacioi Brun, Moraes & Soares, T. atopovirilia Oatman & Platner, T. demoraesi Nagaraja, T. distinctum Zucchi, T. galloi Zucchi and T. bruni Nagaraja were examined. Based on the shape three species groups were obtained: (1) T. acacoi and T. atopovirilia, (2) T. bruni, T. distinctum and T. galloi and (3) only specimens of T. demoraesi. The variables that more contributed for the species separation were mostly characters of the genital capsule and setae of mesoescuto and mesoescutelo. Based on PCA it was possible to show subtle differences among species as well as to evidence the intra-specific morphological variations, which are of great deal of importance to the taxonomic studies with Trichogramma.

Principal components analysis; morphology; egg parasitoid