ATTRACTION OF TRIATOMINES TOWARDS DIFFERENT CO2-FREE, SYNTHETIC HOST-ODOR BLENDS

GUIDOBALDI F; GUERENSTEIN PG

Natal

Congreso; VIII Encontro Brasileiro de Ecologia Química; 2013

Vector control is the most effective method to prevent Chagas disease. A lured trap device is a sustainable and an environmentally-friendly tool for vector monitoring and control. Using one of the most important Chagas disease vectors, Rhodnius prolixus, we test potential odor attractants for the bugs in a dual-choice olfactometer in which attracted bugs get trapped. We already showed that a commercial, CO2-free synthetic host-odor lure developed for mosquitoes (Sweetscent®), consisting on ammonia, L(+)-lactic acid and hexanoic acid, evokes significant attraction and trapping of triatomines in the laboratory. We also showed that the insects respond specifically to the three-component blend in a synergistic way. However, our results also suggested that the performance of the odor blend could be improved. Thus, we now tested different variants of a blend consisting on ammonium hydroxide, L(+)-lactic acid and pentanoic acid (blends differed in the total mass of compounds and in their proportions). Each odor was loaded onto an individual filter paper strip and the three strips were placed in the test arm of the olfactometer. The negative-control arm contained filter paper strips with the solvent (water) only. In negative-control experiments both arms consisted in control arms. The percentage of total capture (%TC) was defined as the total number of insects in the arms (test + control) over the total of insects tested. Thus, we compared the odor-induced %TCs with those of the basal %TCs obtained in the negative-control experiments. Whereas in negative-control experiments the %TC was 7.5 % (N=53), in the positive control (a mouse) 68.1 %TC was obtained (P