Ferreira Raquel Aparecida, Nascimento Ana Carolina Corrêa, Santos Natalya Lorena da Silva, Diotaiuti Liléia Gonçalves, E Silva Eduardo Fernandes, Barbosa Silvia Ermelinda
Grupo de Pesquisa Triatomíneos, Instituto René Rachou/Fiocruz Minas, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil.
PLoS One. 2025 May 12;20(5):e0323090. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323090. eCollection 2025.
Live animals are the preferred food source for rearing and keeping triatomines in insectaries. However, there is an increasing demand for artificial feeding as an alternative method to using live animals. Despite this demand, scientific studies showing the viability of rearing triatomine colonies in insectaries with artificial feeding are still lacking. In this regard, we tested whether feeding triatomines with an artificial system affects different physiological and biological parameters during the insects' development.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Three experimental groups were established for the species Triatoma infestans and Panstrongylus megistus. The insects were fed weekly and individually, with each group receiving different treatments, as follows: A) artificial feeding system with rabbit blood, B) live animal host, and C) alternating feeding (one week A and the next B). The groups were kept under the same environmental conditions and monitored daily. The parameters evaluated per instar and total cycle were the effect of the blood supply method on the insects' developmental time, the association between feeding method and insect mortality, weight gain, and the number of feedings needed to trigger molting. The latter two were evaluated only in P. megistus.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Sex did not influence the insects' survival or weight gain. The biological cycle duration was shortest in insects fed on a live animal host, followed by the group fed alternately, and longest in those fed artificially. Panstrongylus megistus fed on an artificial system required more feedings to complete molting and gained less weight. The insect mortality rate was not influenced by the feeding method. This is the first study showing that artificial feeding conditions affect different physiological parameters in two triatomine species, questioning the viability of exclusive artificial feeding as a sustainable strategy in a laboratory environment.
活体动物是昆虫饲养室中饲养和维持锥蝽的首选食物来源。然而，作为使用活体动物的替代方法，对人工饲养的需求日益增加。尽管有这种需求，但仍缺乏科学研究表明在昆虫饲养室中通过人工饲养培育锥蝽群体的可行性。在这方面，我们测试了用人工系统喂养锥蝽是否会影响昆虫发育过程中的不同生理和生物学参数。
方法/主要发现：针对侵扰锥猎蝽和大锥蝽这两个物种设立了三个实验组。每周对昆虫进行单独喂食，每个组接受不同的处理，如下：A）用兔血的人工饲养系统，B）活体动物宿主，C）交替喂食（一周A，下一周B）。这些组保持在相同的环境条件下并每天进行监测。对每个龄期和整个周期评估的参数包括供血方法对昆虫发育时间的影响、喂养方法与昆虫死亡率之间的关联、体重增加以及触发蜕皮所需的喂食次数。后两个参数仅在大锥蝽中进行评估。
结论/意义：性别不影响昆虫的存活或体重增加。以活体动物宿主为食的昆虫生物周期持续时间最短，其次是交替喂食的组，以人工喂养的昆虫生物周期持续时间最长。以人工系统为食的大锥蝽完成蜕皮需要更多次喂食且体重增加较少。昆虫死亡率不受喂养方法的影响。这是第一项表明人工饲养条件会影响两种锥蝽物种不同生理参数的研究，对在实验室环境中仅采用人工饲养作为可持续策略的可行性提出了质疑。
