Comparison of feeding behaviour of Triatoma infestans, Triatoma brasiliensis and Triatoma pseudomaculata in different hosts by electronic monitoring of the cibarial pump

Feeding behaviour of Triatoma infestans, T. brasiliensis and T. pseudomacul ata on pigeons and mice was compared by electronic monitoring of the cibari al pump. The methodology developed permits the study detailed of triatomine feeding behaviour using an artificial feeder as well as on live hosts. T, infestans was the species that fed most rapidly on the two hosts tested (28 .03+/-1.6 mg/min for pigeon and 21.33+/-1.7 mg/min for mouse), followed by T. brasiliensis (17.09+/-1.4 mg/min and 13.1+/-1.5 mg/min for pigeon and mo use, respectively) and T. pseudomaculata, (5.23+/-0.6 mg/min and 4.09+/-0.4 mg/min for pigeon and mouse, respectively), The quantity of Liquid ingeste d per stroke of the cibarial pump was 100.7+/-4.1 nl for T. infestans, 69.1 +/-2.7 nl for T. brasiliensis and 26.8+1.5 nl for T. pseudomaculata. The ra te of engorgement in pigeons tended to be greater than that obtained for mi ce in the three species studied. In the experiments carried out using mice, probing times tended to be longer and interruptions during the meal more p rolonged. This reinforces the idea that feeding on mice is more difficult t han on pigeons, requiring mon contact time to obtain the similar quantity o f blood. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.