Host preference of kissing bugs can be modulated by previous experience

JAMUI, S. J; MINOLI, SA; MANRIQUE, G.

San Pablo

Congreso; XXXI ENCONTRO ANUAL DE ETOLOGIA; 2013

Haematophagous insects use different olfactory cues released by their endothermic hosts to find them. Some general cues (e.g. CO2, lactic acid) are already known to attract them. The aim of this work is to evaluate if the kissing bug Triatoma infestans presents innate preferences for different hosts, such as mice or chickens, and if this preference can be modulated by a previous experience. Modifications of the innate host-preference of larvae were analyzed by quantifying over a walking olfactometer changes in the behavior (activity levels and orientation) after a 1-minute pre-exposure to stimuli released by one, the other or both hosts. We found that: 1) pre-exposure to the different stimuli seemed to decrease the general activity levels of larvae; 2) the attraction to CO2 evanished with a pre-exposure to the same compound or to a live mouse; 3) no response to lactic acid was observed; 4) the innate attraction towards a mouse was not modulated by any type of pre-exposure; 5) the attraction caused by the presence of a chicken diminished with a pre-exposure to CO2. Results suggest that the preference of larvae of T. infestans for a particular host can be modulated by cognitive processes such as habituation.