Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Reduviidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Hemiptera Subfamily Triatominae | |
Similar Triatoma brasiliensis, Panstrongylus, Panstrongylus megistus, Triatoma, Panstrongylus geniculatus | ||
Triatoma rubrovaria is an insect which is ubiquitous in Uruguay, in neighboring parts of northeastern Argentina, and in the southern states of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. This species of triatomine is found mainly among exfoliate rocks known as pedregales. It was earlier reported as T. (triatoma) rubrovaria, a sylvatic species inhabiting rock piles, rarely found in human dwellings. This species may be a highly competent vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. In Rio Grande do Sul, data from the Chagas disease Control Program have indicated an increasing of domiciliary and peridomiciliary invasion of T. rubrovaria, where it has become the most frequently triatomine species captured in that State since the control of T. infestans.