Feeding and defaecation behaviour of Triatoma patagonica (Del Ponte, 1929) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

RESUMO

Among the vectors of Chagas disease, Triatoma patagonica is a species in the process of adaptation to the human environment being recently registered in urban and suburban zones. However, its importance as a vector of Chagas disease is unknown. The aim of this work was to evaluate two aspects of vectorial competence the feeding behaviour and the defaecation pattern. These processes were studied in females of T. patagonica fed ad libitum on a restrained pigeon. The results showed that the blood meal size was negatively correlated with the time of first defaecation (r = -0.42). The first defaecation was emitted before the first 10 min and defaecations during feeding were frequent. A total of 73 percent of females, defaecated during the first 30 min post-feeding. These results suggest that if this species subsequently colonizes the domicile, it would be capable of transmitting Trypanosoma cruzi