Laboratorio de Fisiología de Insectos, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Med Vet Entomol. 2023 Mar;37(1):76-85. doi: 10.1111/mve.12610. Epub 2022 Sep 9.
Triatomines display most of their activities during the night. Before sunrise, they search, select and occupy adequate shelters to stay during the photophase, avoiding exposure to diurnal predators. In this work, we first explored the interactions between individuals of the same or different species in the shelter selection process of Triatoma infestans (Klug 1834) and Rhodnius prolixus (Stål 1859). When two groups of insects (either of different nutritional status, nymphal instar or species) were released together over an experimental arena containing two identical shelters, all nymphs were distributed randomly, suggesting the absence of intra- and inters-pecific interactions. Secondly, we analysed their preferences for particular features of shelters by releasing one group of insects (either T. infestans or R. prolixus) over an arena containing two different refuges. Nymphs exhibited preferences for darker shelters with a vertical orientation of its substrate and elevated from the ground, highlighting the importance of such features in a shelter selection context. We conclude that these species disregard the presence of other individuals but evaluate certain characteristics of the shelters to choose them. This information may contribute to understanding the colonization/recolonization dynamic processes of these Chagas disease vectors.
三锥虫在夜间表现出大部分活动。在日出前，它们会寻找、选择并占据合适的庇护所，以在光相期间停留，避免白天的捕食者暴露。在这项工作中，我们首先探索了相同或不同物种的个体在传播媒介三锥虫（Klug 1834）和 Rhodnius prolixus（Stål 1859）的庇护选择过程中的相互作用。当两组昆虫（不同营养状态、若虫龄期或物种）同时被释放到一个包含两个相同庇护所的实验场地上时，所有的若虫都是随机分布的，这表明不存在种内和种间的相互作用。其次，我们通过在一个包含两个不同避难所的场地上释放一组昆虫（要么是 T. infestans，要么是 R. prolixus）来分析它们对特定庇护所特征的偏好。若虫表现出对具有垂直方向底物和从地面升高的较暗庇护所的偏好，这突出了这些特征在庇护所选择背景中的重要性。我们得出结论，这些物种会忽略其他个体的存在，但会评估庇护所的某些特征来选择它们。这些信息可能有助于理解这些恰加斯病传播媒介的殖民/再殖民动态过程。
