Host preference of kissing bugs can be modulated by a previous experience

JAMUI, SAMUEL JAVIER; MINOLI, SEBASTIAN; MANRIQUE, GABRIEL

San Pablo

Encuentro; XXXI ENCONTRO ANUAL DE ETOLOGIA; 2013

Sociedade Brasileria de Etologia

Haematophagous insects use olfactory cues, such as CO2 or lactic acid, released by their endothermic hosts for host-detection. The aim of this study was to evaluate innate hostpreferences (for mice or chickens) of kissing bugs, Triatoma infestans, and to analyse whether this preference is modulated by previous olfactory experience. The host-preference of T. infestans larvae was analysed by quantifying their behaviour(activity level, orientation) on a walking olfactometer after a 1-minute preExposure to olfactory stimuli released by one, or both hosts. We found that: (1) pre-exposure to the different stimuli decreased the activity level of the larvae; (2) the attraction to CO2 disappeared after pre-exposure to the same compound or to a live mouse; (3) the larvae did not respond to lactic acid; (4) the innate attraction towards mice was not altered after pre-exposure to any of the stimuli; (5) the innate attraction to chicken decreased after a pre-exposure to CO2. Our results suggest that the preference T. infestans larvae for a particular host can be modulated by cognitive processes such as habituation.