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Phylogenetic and genetic diversity analyses of tropical bed bug Cimex hemipterus (F.) (Hemiptera: Cimicidae): a case report in indigenous (Orang Asli) Tribe Village

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Abstract

Insect specimens morphologically similar to bed bugs were collected from Indigenous Tribe (Orang Asli) Village RPS Kemar, Perak, Malaysia. The insects were tentatively identified as Cimex hemipterus based on the measurement of the ratio of width and height of pronotum. To further confirm the species of the insects, parts of the Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (CO1) and the 16S rRNA (16S) genes were amplified and sequenced. The partial sequences of CO1 and 16S genes showed high similarity with the percentage 99.54–100.00% to C. hemipterus sequences on BLAST. The Maximum Likelihood (ML) tree constructed using MEGA7 also showed that the sequences obtained were clustered together with C. hemipterus reference sequences retrieved from GenBank, with bootstrap values of 99% for the CO1 tree and 100% for the 16S tree, thus confirmed the species identification as C. hemipterus. Genetic diversity analysis using CO1 sequences showed that the bed bugs population in RPS Kemar has two haplotypes and low nucleotide diversities, while only one haplotype was found for 16S sequences, indicate no nucleotide diversity. The CO1 sequences in this study were also compared with CO1 sequences of C. hemipterus from other states in Malaysia. The results showed that the two haplotypes detected from RPS Kemar have no significant difference with the other haplotype groups from other states in Malaysia, suggesting that the Orang Asli Village RPS Kemar population could be a tropical bed bug population expansion.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) (203/PBIOLOGI/6711681) and 304 / PBIOLOGI / 6501125 and 304 / PBIOLOGI / 6501125 /J139. This research protocol was approved by the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Human Ethics Committee (USM/JEPeM/19120868). We would like to thank Entomology and Pest Unit, Perak State Health Department for the bed bug sample from the Indigenous Villages (Perkampungan Orang Asli) in RPS Kemar, Perak, Malaysia

Funding

This study was funded by Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) (203/PBIOLOGI/6711681) and 304 / PBIOLOGI / 6501125 /J139.

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  1. Household and Structural Urban Entomology Laboratory, Vector Control Research Unit, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Minden, Penang, Malaysia

    Li Lim & Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid

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  1. Li Lim
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  2. Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid
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Correspondence to Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid.

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Lim, L., Ab Majid, A. Phylogenetic and genetic diversity analyses of tropical bed bug Cimex hemipterus (F.) (Hemiptera: Cimicidae): a case report in indigenous (Orang Asli) Tribe Village. Int J Trop Insect Sci 42, 637–646 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-021-00583-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-021-00583-8

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