Fernando Torres-Perez

Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso | PUCV · Institute of Biology

Simple Summary Two ecogeographic rules predict morphological changes along latitudinal clines based on thermoregulatory causes. To maintain corporal heat in cold environments (higher latitudes), larger body sizes and shorter appendages and limbs are predicted by Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules, respectively. Both rules may also apply to elevational gr...

Mepraia is a genus (Triatominae) endemic to Chile and a vector of Trypanosoma cruzi. Alternative phylogeographic hypotheses have been suggested for Mepraia. We tested different colonization routes hypothesized using mitochondrial sequences and phylogeographic approaches to select the best-supported hypothesis. Our results suggest that, after the sp...

RESUMEN La conservación de la biodiversidad en Chile Mediterráneo requiere una mayor cobertura en el Sistema Nacional de Áreas Silvestres Protegidas del Estado, por lo que las Áreas Pro-tegidas Privadas (APP) son alternativas complementarias para la conservación. El estudio de la biodiversidad en las APP es escaso, desconociendo su aporte en la con...

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic reveals a major gap in global biosecurity infrastructure: a lack of publicly available biological samples representative across space, time, and taxonomic diversity. The shortfall, in this case for vertebrates, prevents accurate and rapid identification and monitoring of emer...

Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause agent of Chagas disease, is transmitted mainly by blood-feeding insects of the subfamily Triatominae. The T. cruzi life cycle alternates between triatomines and mammalian hosts, excluding birds and reptiles. Triatomines of Mepraia genus are wild vectors of T. cruzi in Chile. Mepraia specimens infected with T. cruzi have...

Chagas disease is one of the main zoonoses mediated by vectors in America. The etiological agent is the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted mainly by hematophagous insects of the subfamily Triatominae. Mepraia species are triatomines endemic to Chile that play an important role in T. cruzi transmission in the wild cycle and are potential vecto...

In reptiles, polyploidy is an unusual phenomenon that can originate from interspecific hybridization. In Chile, the lizard Liolaemus chiliensis provides a unique model with which to study the origin of polyploidy because it occurs in populations of diploid individuals and a few populations that also contain triploid and diploid-triploid mosaic liza...

Small mammals present in areas where hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) cases had occurred in central and southern Chile were captured and analyzed to evaluate the abundance of rodents and seroprevalence rates of antibodies to Andes orthohantavirus (ANDV). Sampling areas ranged from the Coquimbo to Aysén regions (30-45° S approx.) regions....

The temperate rainforests of southern Chile, a recognized biodiversity hotspot, were significantly affected by Pleistocene glacial cycles in their southern portion and have been severely disrupted mainly due to recent human activities. Additionally, the landscape is characterized by a series of potential barriers to gene flow, such as the Chacao Ch...

Museum specimens play an increasingly important role in predicting the outcomes and revealing the consequences of anthropogenically driven disruption of the biosphere. As ecological communities respond to ongoing environmental change, host-parasite interactions are also altered. This shifting landscape of host-parasite associations creates opportun...

Testing hypotheses on the drivers of clade evolution and trait diversification provides insight into many aspects of evolutionary biology. Often, studies investigate only the intrinsic biological properties of organisms as the causes of diversity, however extrinsic properties of a clade's environment, particularly geological history, may also offer...

Abstract Background: Mitochondrial markers are widely used as a first approach in determining evolutionary relationships among vertebrate taxa at different hierarchical scales. Cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase I are among the most common markers; they are particularly useful in phylogeography and species delineation studies. Simulation and empir...

In the present study, the taxonomic status of Microlophus heterolepis and M. yanezi is reviewed. Although M. heterolepis is one of the identified species present in Chile, incongruity about their geographical distribution, habitat and ecological characteristics are evident, so its true determination is an issue. Type materials and original descript...

We evaluated if two sigmodontine rodent taxa (Abrothrix olivacea and Phyllotis darwini) from the Andes and Coastal mountaintops of central Chile, experienced distributional shifts due to altitudinal movements of habitat and climate change during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We tested the hypothesis that during LGM populations of both s...

Chagas disease is one of the main zoonosis mediated by vectors in America. The etiologic agent Trypanosoma cruzi infects different mammals and is transmitted principally by the subfamily Triatominae. Mepraia is a genus endemic to Chile, responsible for transmitting T. cruzi in the sylvatic cycle. Mepraia includes three species: M. gajardoi and M. p...

The positive animals we identified originated from a single location on the Antarctic Peninsula, which suggests recent introduction of this AIV H5N5 in the colonies sampled. Antarctica is refuge for most penguin colonies, including the near-threatened emperor penguins. Previous reports suggested that AIV could have caused Adélie penguin chick death...

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoo Trypanosoma cruzi and is one of the main zoonosis mediated by vectors in America. Clarify the historical processes of dispersion of these vectors is crucial to understanding the current epidemiological status of this zoonosis. Mepraia is an endemic vector from Chile responsible of transmitting T. cruzi in th...

Long-tailed pygmy rice rats (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) are principal reservoir hosts of Andes virus (ANDV) (Bunyaviridae), which causes most hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome cases in the Americas. To develop tools for the study of the ANDV-host interactions, we used RNA-Seq to generate a de novo transcriptome assembly. Splenic RNA from five ri...

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been widely used to clarify phylogenetic relationships among and within species, and to determine population structure. Due to the linked nature of mtDNA genes it is expected that different genes will show similar results. Phylogenetic incongruence using mtDNA genes may result from processes such as heteroplasmy, nucle...

Clinal variation is defined as gradual variation in a character associated with geographic distance among sites. Microlophus atacamensis is a medium large lizard species which inhabits the intertidal zone of northern Chile, distributed from Antofagasta (23° 39′ S) to Arrayán, La Serena (29° 41′ S) in a gradient which could show clinal variation. Ge...

We report the first record of Litomosoides pardinasi in native and exotic rodents from Chile. Litomosoides pardinasi, described in the Argentine Patagonia parasitizing Phyllotis xanthopygus and Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, was found in Chile parasitizing the peritoneal and thoracic cavities of O. longicaudatus (prevalence (P)= 18.9%, mean intensity...

We assessed the utility of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of hantavirus-specific antibodies from sera of Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, the principal reservoir of Andes virus (ANDV), using an antigen previously developed for detection of antibodies to Sin Nombre virus (SNV) in sera from Peromyscus maniculatus. The assay...

The hematophagous Hemiptera of the subfamily Triatominae are a very diverse group with a variety of morphs, behaviors and distributions. They have great epidemiological importance because many of its members are vectors of the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease. Mepraia is a genus of Triatominae endemic to Chile responsible fo...

Evolution of montane species may be strongly influenced by climate oscillations, particularly species distributed in isolated high-elevation areas (sky islands). Chilean topography is exemplified by montane environments including the Andes and Coastal Mountains. To test hypotheses related to genetic divergence associated with sky islands, we explor...

Deer mice are the principal reservoir hosts of Sin Nombre virus, the etiologic agent of most hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome cases in North America. Infection of deer mice results in persistence without conspicuous pathology, and most, if not all, infected mice remain infected for life, with periods of viral shedding. The kinetics of viral load...

In Chile, the main vector of Chagas disease, Triatoma infestans, is under control after insecticide spraying. However, it has been found colonizing wild habitats. This study evaluated Trypanosoma cruzi infection of sylvatic and domiciliary T. infestans and identified their parasite genotypes. The sample studied was composed mainly of T. infestans s...

[This corrects the article on p. e32206 in vol. 7.].

The long-tailed pygmy rice rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (Sigmodontinae), the major reservoir of Hantavirus in Chile and Patagonian Argentina, is widely distributed in the Mediterranean, Temperate and Patagonian Forests of Chile, as well as in adjacent areas in southern Argentina. We used molecular data to evaluate the effects of the last glacial...

List of geographic localities analyzed in this study. Refer to numbers depicted in the map for localities (Fig. 1). N = sample size for that locality. (DOCX)

List of haplotypes recovered through the mitochondrial control region (hypervariable I domain) for Oligoryzomys longicaudatus. In parenthesis the number of haplotypes. The localities (see Table 1 for geographic details) are associated to specimens trapped in that site. The NK is a collection number used for the Division of Biological Materials of t...

Co-divergence between host and parasites suggests that evolutionary processes act across similar spatial and temporal scales. Although there has been considerable work on the extent and correlates of co-divergence of RNA viruses and their mammalian hosts, relatively little is known about the extent to which virus evolution is determined by the phyl...

The continued emergence and re-emergence of pathogens represent an ongoing, sometimes major, threat to populations. Hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae) and their associated human diseases were considered to be confined to Eurasia, but the occurrence of an outbreak in 1993-94 in the southwestern United States led to a great increase in their study am...

Powassan virus (POW) is a tick-borne flavivirus distributed in Canada, the northern USA and the Primorsky region of Russia. POW is the only tick-borne flavivirus endemic to the western hemisphere, where it is transmitted mainly between Ixodes cookei and groundhogs (Marmota monax). Deer tick virus (DTV), a genotype of POW that has been frequently is...

Chagas disease is one of the most important vector-borne diseases in Latin America. The disease, caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is commonly transmitted to humans by Triatoma infestans in South America. Using mitochondrial DNA sequences, we assessed alternative biogeographic scenarios of dispersal of T. infestans using coalesc...

Triatoma infestans is one of the main domestic vectors of Chagas disease. Reports of wild habitat occurrences have recently increased. In Chile, after a successful elimination campaign of T. infestans domestic infestation, a sylvatic focus was reported in bromeliads in the metropolitan region. Here, we report a new focus of sylvatic T. infestans in...

We report 2 cases of Sin Nombre virus (SNV) infection in field workers, possibly contracted through rodent bites. Screening for antibodies to SNV in rodents trapped in 2 seasons showed that 9.77% were seropositive. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that 2 of 79 deer mice had detectable titers of SNV RNA.

Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) is an emerging infectious disease first reported in Chile in 1995. Andes hantavirus (ANDV) is responsible for the more than 500 cases of HCPS reported in Chile. Previous work showed that ANDV is genetically differentiated in Chile across contrasting landscapes. To determine whether the reservoir rodent (Ol...

The delimitation of species is a major issue in systematic biology and has been a re-emerging discipline in the last decade. A number of studies have shown that the use of multiple data sets is critical for the identification of cryptic species, particularly in groups with complex evolutionary histories. Liolaemus monticola is a montane lizard spec...

Monophyly of the superfamily Dioctophymatoidea was assessed based on analyses of DNA sequence variation among 3 of 4 constituent genera (5 species). Represented is the first molecular phylogenetic evaluation of the Dioctophymatoidea using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference of 18S nuclear DNA (786 base-pair [bp] segment) a...

Andes virus (ANDV) is the predominant etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in southern South America. In Chile, serologically confirmed human hantavirus infections have occurred throughout a wide latitudinal distribution extending from the regions of Valparaíso (32 to 33 degrees S) to Aysén (46 degrees S) in southern Patago...

Comparamos individuos de T. infestans en estadio ninfal quinto de tres poblaciones: dos silvestres y una de laboratorio. Se evaluó por cambios de tamaño y conformación entre ellas, utilizando cinco puntos homólogos ubicados en la cabeza y cuello de los ejemplares. Se observaron diferencias en el tamaño de las cabezas de las ninfas mantenidas en con...

This chapter determines the ecology and evolutionary relationships among populations whose results have been synthesized, using life-history traits as well as morphological, chromosomal, and molecular tools. It notes that Oligoryzomys longicaudatus is a conspicuous species of sigmodontine rodent from the southern cone of South America, inhabiting M...

Allozyme variability was assessed within and between 18 samples of four chromosomal races of the Liolaemus monticola complex: "Southern, 2n=34", "Northern, 2n=38–40", "Multiple Fission, 2n=42–44" and "Northern modified 1, 2n=38–40". This is an endemic montane Chilean lizard characterized by extensive chromosomal polytypy. The population genetic str...

Liolaemus monticola is a mountain lizard species, with a widespread distribution from central Chile that displays several highly polymorphic chromosomal races. Our study determined the phylogeographic structuring and relationships among three chromosomal races of L. monticola in Chile. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of the cytochrome b gene we...

Insuetophrynus acarpicus is a poorly known frog restricted to the temperate forests of the coastal range of Chile (39° 25' S, 73° 10' W). Until recently, this species was known only from one type locality since its original description in 1970. However, in 2002 two new localities were reported, extending its distribution range to about 40 km2. In o...

Phylogeographic relationships were evaluated at the intraspecific level using nucleotide sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of representative specimens of "colilargo" (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) from 31 localities, along its distributional range over a large part of the western Andes and southern Argentina. Based on approximate...

The Eight Region has the second highest number of cases of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS) in humans for Chile. A study was performed to identify the number of rodents serologically positive to hantavirus and their local distribution in this region. To achieve this goal, we sampled eleven sites in the four provinces of the region. Seven...

The Eight Region has the second highest number of cases of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS) in humans for Chile. A study was performed to identify the number of rodents serologically positive to hantavirus and their local distribution in this region. To achieve this goal, we sampled eleven sites in the four provinces of the region. Seven...

Cases of human hantavirus disease have been reported in Chile since 1995, most of them in people living in rural and periurban areas. We conducted a peridomestic study of small mammals to evaluate the relationships between the presence of rodents with antibodies to Andes virus confirmed human cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in southcentral C...

Genetic divergence between two traditionally recognized subspecies, Liolaemus monticola chillanensis and Liolaemus monticola ssp. was assessed by allozymic comparison. Both morphotypes are syntopic and restricted to the mountains of the Cordillera de Chillan. Results of 17 presumptive loci have shown diagnostic alleles at five loci in Esterases and...

Allozyme variation and evolutionary relationship in species of the genus Microlophus of the peruvianus group from I I localities in Chile and southern Peru were determined. Two external groups (M. occipitalis and M. thoracicus, both from northern Peru), were considered to polarize character states in a cladistics analysis. A total of 22 presumptive...

Allozyme variation and evolutionary relationship in species of the genus Microlophus of the peruvianus group from 11 localities in Chile and southern Perú were determined. Two external groups (M. occipitalis and M. thoracicus, both from northern Perú), were considered to polarize character states in a cladistics analysis. A total of 22 presumptive...

RESUMEN El Parque Nacional Llanos de Challe se encuentra ubicado en el desierto costero de Huasco, III Región de Atacama (Chile), con un área total de 45.708 ha. Se caracteriza por presentar un clima desértico costero con nubosidad abundante y ser representativo de la subregión ecológica del desierto costero. Entre los años 1997 y 1998 se realizaro...

The Herpetological Catalogue of Museo del Mar in Arturo Prat University is described. There are 100 specimens included in 29 species, 11 genera and six families