Potential colonization of the peridomicile by Triatoma guasayana (Hemiptera:Reduviidae) in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

Sylvatic triatomines might use the peridomicile as a 1st step in the process of domiciliation. Therefore, we evaluated the capability of sylvatic species to colonize the peridomicile of a rural area in the Province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. The research was carried out in 6 houses in the village of Trinidad. The person per hour capture method was employed to determine the presence of triatomines in all the buildings (n = 44). Dispersing adults were collected by means of light traps and by villagers when approaching their houses. Triatoma infestans (Klug) was the most abundant species followed by the sylvatic Triatoma guasayana Wygodzinsky & Abalos. The branch pens, which included cacti, Opuntia quimilo, and bromeliads in their structure, were significantly associated with T. guasayana. Most of these insects had fed on domestic blood sources. With the exception of 1 Triatoma sordida (Stål), dispersing adults were T. guasayana; among those approaching houses, 12 were females (2 of which were infected with Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas) and 3 were males. T. guasayana was found to be capable of intensively invading the intradomicile and the peridomicile, showing a high tendency to settle in the ecotopes which included nontransformed raw material from the wild and where T. infestans was less abundant.