Beyond blood: the flexibility of triatomine bug food search and recognition.

Curr Opin Insect Sci

Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Laboratorio de Neuroetología de Insectos, ETI2, Instituto Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada, IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Published: December 2024

AI Article Synopsis

  • - Kissing bugs are effective blood-feeders, using cues like carbon dioxide and heat to locate their warm-blooded hosts, but recent studies show they may also feed on cold-blooded animals and insects.
  • - The bugs utilize various sensory signals, such as temperature changes and odors, for feeding decisions, and are now found to consume plant or fruit fluids, indicating a more diverse diet than previously thought.
  • - Future research should explore how kissing bugs sense and react to different sensory inputs from various hosts and plant sources, which could inform strategies for surveillance and control, as well as shed light on their evolutionary transition from predatory to blood-feeding behavior.

Article Abstract

Kissing bugs are known for being skilled blood-feeders on warm-blooded hosts, using cues like carbon dioxide, infrared radiation, and skin odors to locate them. They depend on heat to direct their bites and use gustatory signals for feeding decisions. Recent evidence suggests that they also feed on cold-blooded animals and insects. This implies that they may respond to other sensory cues, such as slight temperature changes, vibrations, and/or odors, to trigger biting attempts. Besides, new studies reveal that triatomines can ingest plant or fruit fluids, showing a broader dietary flexibility than previously recognized. Future research should focus on how triatomines detect and respond to sensory cues from poikilothermic hosts or plant fluids, and how these sensory inputs influence their feeding behavior. Understanding their sensory abilities and dietary flexibility could have important implications for vector surveillance and control, offering insights into the evolutionary shift from predatory to blood-feeding behaviors.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2024.101301DOI Listing

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