Biology of three species of the Meccus phyllosomus complex (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) fed on blood of hens and rabbits

Abstract

(Ramírez-Rovelo et al. 1990, Malo et al. 1993, Barbosa-Gómez & García da Silva 2001, Martínez-Ibarra et al. 2003b or remain unknown, as in M. phyllosomus and in M. bassolsae. In consequence, taking into account the associations of those three last species in natural and artificial environments and previous information on its host preferences, the objective of this study was to determine the influence of the blood meal source on the life-cycle, reproductive development and feeding and defecation behavior of M. phyllosomus, M. mazzottii, and M. bassolsae under laboratory conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODSLaboratory colonies of M. phyllosomus and M. mazzottii established in 2004 from specimens captured in Oaxaca, Mexico were used, whereas a colony of M. bassolsae, established in 2004, with specimens originally obtained from Acatlan, Puebla, Mexico, was also used. Colonies were maintained at 27 ± 1ºC and 75 ± 5% relative humidity (rh) and fed weekly on immobilized Leghorn hens or New Zealand rabbits.

Influence of temperature and humidity on the biology of Triatoma mexicana (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) under laboratory conditions

“…This was also recorded for two species of the Phyllosoma complex, Meccus picturatus (Usinger) and The average development times of the three studied cohorts of T. mexicana fed on rabbits were over 255 days. They were similar to the average development time (270.5 ± 44.0 days) of M. bassolsae reared under similar laboratory conditions (Martínez-Ibarra et al 2006). Those development times from T. mexicana were longer than most of those from four species of the Phyllosoma complex.…”

Biology of three species of North American Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) fed on rabbits

“…On the other hand, T. lecticularia had the shortest development time of all three species in the present study, apparently because its specimens had a higher degree of adaptation to laboratory conditions. This is similar to the reported behavior in Meccus mazzottii (Usinger) and M. phyllosomus (Burmeister) concerning M. bassolsae (Alejandre-Aguilar et al) on the cohorts fed on hens as well as in the cohorts fed on rabbits (Martínez-Ibarra et al 2006). The mean development time of T. lecticularia in the present study was also shorter than the time reported for specimens of this species that had grown in Brazil at a temperature of 28 ± 0.1 o C and 70 ± 5% RH (318.1 and 317 days in males and females, respectively) (Silva et al 1993).…”

Biological parameters of Meccus phyllosomus phyllosomus (Burmeister), 1835, Triatoma recurva (Stål), 1868 (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) and their laboratory hybrids

“…La duración del ciclo de vida en las dos cohortes parentales fue similar a lo reportado previamente para dichos grupos (14,15). Sin embargo, el ciclo de vida de los híbridos fue de menor duración que el de ambos parentales, incluido el ciclo más corto de M. p. phyllosomus.…”

“…Se seleccionaron conejos como fuente de alimentación dado que en estudios previos (14,15) con T. recurva y M. p. phyllosomus, se ha concluido que son una buena fuente de alimentación sanguínea, ya que favorecen ciclos cortos en los triatominos, así como otros parámetros biológicos.…”