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Asymmetry, developmental stability, and evolution

Asymmetry, developmental stability, and evolution Many years ago, in the Andean town of Chincheros, Peru, I spent the night attempting to sleep on a llama hide on the floor of a native hut. This was one of my first “anthropological” field experiences and I got little, if any, sleep, maintaining continual surveillance of my immediate environment. I may have been lucky during that sleepless night not to have been bitten by the “kissing bug,” Triatoma infestans, barbiero, or vinchuca, the inch-long biting insect of the Andes and tropical lowlands of South America. Vinchucas, carriers of the New World parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, are known as the “kissing bug” because they often seek the face for their nocturnal blood meals. The author of this book had a similar experience in Bolivia, which evoked my memory. This New World trypanosomiasis, which was thought (probably incorrectly) to have contributed to Charles Darwin’s lifelong disability, may date back 6,000 years in the Andes. There is clear evidence of infection about 3,400 years ago from an Inca mummy. The vinchuca bug probably began to infest dwellings about this time, having moved from animals (camelids, guinea pigs) to humans as alternate hosts. Bastien describes in some detail how houses are http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Human Biology Wiley

Asymmetry, developmental stability, and evolution

Stevenson, Joan C.
American Journal of Human Biology , Volume 12 (5) – Sep 1, 2000
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References (1)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ISSN
1042-0533
eISSN
1520-6300
DOI
10.1002/1520-6300(200009/10)12:5<720::AID-AJHB23>3.0.CO;2-4
Publisher site
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Abstract

Many years ago, in the Andean town of Chincheros, Peru, I spent the night attempting to sleep on a llama hide on the floor of a native hut. This was one of my first “anthropological” field experiences and I got little, if any, sleep, maintaining continual surveillance of my immediate environment. I may have been lucky during that sleepless night not to have been bitten by the “kissing bug,” Triatoma infestans, barbiero, or vinchuca, the inch-long biting insect of the Andes and tropical lowlands of South America. Vinchucas, carriers of the New World parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, are known as the “kissing bug” because they often seek the face for their nocturnal blood meals. The author of this book had a similar experience in Bolivia, which evoked my memory. This New World trypanosomiasis, which was thought (probably incorrectly) to have contributed to Charles Darwin’s lifelong disability, may date back 6,000 years in the Andes. There is clear evidence of infection about 3,400 years ago from an Inca mummy. The vinchuca bug probably began to infest dwellings about this time, having moved from animals (camelids, guinea pigs) to humans as alternate hosts. Bastien describes in some detail how houses are

Journal

American Journal of Human Biology – Wiley

Published: Sep 1, 2000

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