Behavioral responses of kissing bugs (Triatomines) to odors and odor mixtures

GUIDOBALDI F; BRATOVICH C; GARCIA MAILEN; GUERENSTEIN PG

Congreso; Reunión satélite Neurobiología del Comportamiento: ?NeuroetologÍa y Neurobiología de la Memoria en el cono sur?; 2013

S A NEUROCIENCIAS

Using a dual-choice olfactometer in which attracted bugs get trapped, we aim at optimizing the performance of a CO2-free synthetic host odor blend to attract triatomines. We first tested a CO2-free synthetic host-odor commercial lure for mosquitoes consisting on ammonia, lactic acid and hexanoic acid (all triatomine-detected odors) and found it significantly attractive. This attraction proved to be the result of a synergistic interaction between the responses to the three odors. We then developed different blends consisting on ammonium hydroxide, lactic acid and pentanoic acid varying the total mass of compounds and their proportions. Results indicate that the proportion at which the odors were delivered has a major role in determining the attraction and capture level. Addition of a fourth triatomine-detected host odor to one of the attractive synthetic blends did not result in increased attraction as capture was even reduced by 60 %. This negative synergy or hypoadditivity depended on the odor blend to which the new odor was added, implying variability in the stability of the response to odor blends. As expected, the building of a multicomponent attractive odor blend is not a linear process. In another set of experiments using IR video recordings we compared the suitability (i.e., specificity) of different variables commonly used to measure attraction in insects. We thank Fundación Bunge y Born and ANPCyT for funding (grants FBB28/10 and PICT-PRH-2009-43, respectively).