Demographic fitness of Belminus ferroae (Hemiptera:Triatominae) on three different hosts under laboratory conditions.

SANDOVAL CLAUDIA M.; MEDONE PAULA; NIEVES ELSA; JAIMES DIEGO; ORTIZ NELCI; RABINOVICH JORGE EDUARDO

MEMóRIAS DO INSTITUTO OSWALDO CRUZ.

FUNDACO OSWALDO CRUZ

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2013 vol. 108 p. 1 - 11

0074-0276

Triatominae are widely recognized for their role as vectors of Trypanosomacruzi. One of the main biological characteristics of this subfamily is their obligatehematophagous condition. However, previous studies on Belminus herreri and Belminusferroae suggested that cockroaches are their principal hosts in domiciles. Due to thispeculiar behavior, the aim of this study was to analyze several demographic andreproductive parameters of B. ferroae fed on three different hosts (mice, cockroaches andRhodnius prolixus) and relate B. ferroae fitness to these alternative hosts. The cohorts werereared under constant conditions. The egg hatching rate was similar for cohorts fed oncockroaches (69.4%) and R. prolixus (63.8%) but was much lower for the cohort fed onmice (16.0%). The development time from the nymph to adult stage and the average age offirst reproduction (alpha) presented lower values in the cohort fed on cockroaches, which isconsistent with the higher population growth rate associated with this host. Demographicparameters (r0), (lambda), (Ro) and (time to convergence to stable stage distribution) showed statistically significant differences between the cohorts. Analysis of the life history of B. ferroae revealed a higher fitness related to the cockroach. The implications of these results for the origin of the subfamily are discussed.