Journal
MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY
Volume 24, Issue 2, Pages 124-131Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2915.2010.00868.x
Keywords
Belminus ferroae; Belminus; haemolymphagy; predation; Triatominae; Colombia
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Funding
- Universidad de Pamplona, Colombia [1121-04-18236]
- European Community [ICA4-CT-2003-10049]
- Subgrupo de Control de Vectores, Instituto Departamental de Salud (IDS), Cucuta, Norte de Santander, Colombia
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq), Brazil
- Brazilian Ministry of Health
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Belminus ferroae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) was collected from houses in the localities of San Alberto and Santa Catalina in the municipality of Toledo, Department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. Precipitin tests revealed that the main hosts of B. ferroae are insects belonging to the order Blattodea, whose haemolymph serves as food (89.43%). A low rate of haematophagy was indicated on rodents, dogs and humans (7.32%) and no natural infection with Trypanosoma cruzi was found by either microscopic examination or polymerase chain reaction. The finding of B. ferroae inside houses, feeding primarily on Blattodea with only a minor tendency to feed on vertebrate blood, is indicative of both the evolutionary path from predator to blood-sucker taken by Triatominae and their tendency to adapt from silvatic to domestic habitats.
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