Ecotopes, natural infection and trophic resources of Triatoma brasiliensis (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae)

RESUMO

Triatoma brasiliensis is considered as one of the most important Chagas disease vectors in the northeastern Brazil. This species presents chromatic variations which led to descriptions of subspecies, synonymized by Lent and Wygodzinsky (1979). In order to broaden bionomic knowledge of these distinct colour patterns of T. brasiliensis, captures were performed at different sites, where the chromatic patterns were described Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte (T. brasiliensis brasiliensis Neiva, 1911), it will be called the "brasiliensis populations"; Espinosa, Minas Gerais (T. brasiliensis melania Neiva & Lent 1941), the "melanica population" and Petrolina, Pernambuco (T. brasiliensis macromelasoma, Galväo 1956), the "macromelasoma population". A fourth chromatic pattern was collected in Juazeiro, Bahia, the darker one in overall cuticle coloration, the "Juazeiro population". At the sites of Caicó, Petrolina and Juazeiro, specimens were captured in peridomiciliar ecotopes and in wilderness. In Espinosa the specimens were collected only in wilderness, even though several exhaustive captures have been performed in peridomicile at different sites of this municipality. A total of 298 specimens were captured. The average registered infection rate was 15 per cent for "brasiliensis population" and of 6.6 per cent for "melanica population". Specimens of "macromelasoma" and of "Juazeiro populations" did not present natural infection. Concerning trophic resources, evaluated by the precipitin test, feeding eclecticism for the different colour patterns studied was observed, with dominance of goat blood in household surroundings as well as in wilderness.