Infestation of thornbird nests (Passeriformes: Furnariidae) by Psammolestes tertius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) across Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga ecoregions

Abstract

Psammolestes tertius Lent & Jurberg, 1965 is a sylvatic triatomine bug species that occurs in thornbird nests in Brazil. We studied infestation of 527 nests of Phacellodomus rufifrons Wied, 1821 and Phacellodomus ruber Vieillot, 1817 by P. tertius in eight Brazilian states across the Cerrado and Caatinga ecoregions. Psammolestes tertius occurred in 44% of the nests, mainly in those of P. ruber. Overall, 3,261 specimens (52% nymphs) were captured, with an average of 14 bugs per infested nest (range 1-75). While P. tertius occurrence and age structure (percentage of nymphs) were similar in Cerrado and Caatinga nests, infestation intensity (bugs/infested nest) was higher in the Cerrado. Last-stage nymphs and adults were predominant in P. tertius populations from both P. ruber and P. rufifrons nests. The results indicate that Phacellodomus nests are favourable habitats for P. tertius in the open/dry ecoregions of Brazil. The percentage of adult P. tertius specimens (48%) was higher than that observed in other triatomine species (usually less than 5% under either experimental or natural conditions), suggesting that adult bugs tend to remain in thornbird nests. The stable blood supply provided by resident/breeding birds would favor steady P. tertius infestation of thornbird nests across Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga ecoregions

Occurrence of synanthropic triatomines (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in the Federal District of Brazil

“…Even though natural and experimental infection of Ps. tertius with T. cruzi 20 had already been observed, the former species has strong association with wild birds 21 and, therefore, has low capacity of domiciliation. These behaviors may explain why Ps.…”

Synanthropic triatomines (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil: geographical distribution and natural Trypanosoma infection rates between 2006 and 2007

“…Differently from what was observed by Dias et al 7 , our study did not detect these 3 species: Psammolestes tertius, T. tibiamaculata, and T. rubrofasciata. The first species occurs frequently in bird nests of the family Furnariidae 22 with a wide distribution in the State of Pernambuco 23 . However, records of this species in domestic environments are rare, and although the species has already been experimentally infected with T. cruzi, natural infection is not frequent, due to a marked ornithophily.…”

<b>Predicting geographic distributions of <i>Phacellodomus</i> species (Aves: Furnariidae) in South America based on ecological niche modeling

“…The species is common in the flooded areas of the Brazilian cerrado, associated with Mauritia flexuosa palm trees, where it builds its nest (GURGEL-GONÇALVES; CUBA, 2011;GURGEL-GONÇALVES et al, 2012 , 1994;VAURIE 1980). Records of each subspecies and associated distributional estimates indicated little overlap between their distributions.…”

“…Distributional data for Phacellodomus species in South America was obtained from Naumburg (1930), Short (1975), Barnett et al (1998), Robbins et al (1999), Braz and Cavalcanti (2001), Accordi (2003), Belton (2003), Willis (2003), Farias (2002), Gussoni and Campos (2004), Ribon (2004), Ridgely et al (2005), Maia-Gouvêa (2005), Gagliardi and Pacheco (2011), Gurgel-Gonçalves and Silva (2009), Gurgel-Gonçalves and Cuba (2011), and GurgelGonçalves et al (2012. The distributional data for Phacellodomus species available in museums were also analyzed, among which may be mentioned Royal Ontario Museum, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University, Delaware Museum of Natural History, Kansas University Natural History Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, US.…”