Triatominae

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Triatominae
Panstrongylus geniculatus

Panstrongylus geniculatus

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Bed bugs (heteroptera)
Family : Predatory bugs (Reduviidae)
Subfamily : Triatominae
Scientific name
Triatominae
Jeannel , 1919

The Triatominae are a subfamily in the family of the predatory bugs (Reduviidae). Their main distribution area is in the American tropics as well as in Mexico and Central America .

Harmful effect on humans

When sting, the saliva of some species can cause anaphylactic shock in people who are allergic to it . Depending on the severity of the shock, symptoms such as fainting, diarrhea, fever, rash, and difficulty breathing may occur. In particularly severe cases, such a shock can lead to death if left untreated. Even if the bite is not always felt, it often leads to the formation of a wheal in humans and then causes more or less severe itching.

Carriers of disease in humans

About 30 species in South and Central America, especially from the following 4 genera of this subfamily, sting humans and can transmit Chagas disease :

  • Triatoma
  • Rhodnius
  • Dipetalogaster
  • Panstrongylus

It is transmitted through the bug droppings, which are usually released at the same time in the vicinity of the sting point. This contains the trypanosomes , which can get into the stab wound or sensitive mucous membranes when scratching .

Systematics

Tribes , genera m. Number of species, ( species of the Triatominae )

System according to:

  • Galvão C, Carcavallo R, da Silva Rorcha D, Jurberg J (2004) A checklist of the current valid species of the subfamily Triatominae Jeannel, 1919 (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) and their geographical distribution, with nomenclatural and taxonomic notes. Zootaxa 202: 1-36

All 137 species have the potential to transmit Chagas disease . Epidemiologically , however, the most important types are:

Old World Triatominae

Some species are also known in the "Old World" and Australia :

  • Genus Triatoma Laporte, 1833

(Researchers believe that these species made the leap across the ocean (from America) only a few hundred years ago. They are probably only native to the hot countries; T. rubrofasciata is particularly noteworthy as it is a known vector of Trypanosoma cruzi is.)

    • T. amicitiae Lent, 1951
    • T. bouvieri Larrousse, 1924
    • T. cavernicola Else & Cheong, in Else et al., 1977
    • T. leopoldi (Schoudeten, 1933) - Australia
    • T. migrans Breddin, 1903
    • T. pugasi Lent, 1953b
    • T. rubrofasciata ( De Geer , 1773)
    • T. rubrovaria (Blanchard, in Blanchard & Bulle, 1843)?
    • T. sinica Hsaio, 1965
  • Genus Linshcosteus Distant, 1904 (the most common locality of this genus is India)
    • L. carnifex Distant, 1904
    • L. chota Lent & Wygodzinsky, 1979
    • L. confumus Ghauri, 1976
    • L. costalis Ghauri, 1976
    • L. kali Lent & Wygodzinsky, 1979
    • L. karupus sp.n. Galvão, Patterson, Rocha & Jurberg, 2002

Predatory bug use in other research areas of biology

In order to obtain hormonally unadulterated blood samples from birds without stress, a German-American research group has developed a new method that biologists Peter Becker from the Institute for Bird Research Wilhelmshaven and Christian Voigt from the Berlin Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) have already successfully used tested on common terns ( Sterna hirundo ). In breeding birds, the researchers exchanged the entire egg clutch for artificial eggs, one of which contained a predatory bug of the species Dipetalogaster maximus . Through a small hole in the shell of the artificial ice covered with a fine net, this predatory bug could suck blood unnoticed from an adult bird after it had sat down on its supposed clutch again. The artificial eggs were then exchanged for the real eggs and the bird's blood was removed from the bug's goiter for further investigation. None of the breeding pairs of birds gave up their clutch when using this method and the researchers succeeded in 68 cases with the help of the predatory bugs with more than 100 microliters of blood plasma to obtain quantitatively sufficient test material for chemical analyzes.

Quotes

Description from Charles Darwin's Journal and Remarks , commonly known as The Voyage of the Beagle, or a Naturalist's Journey Around the World ; Extract from the entry from March 25, 1835:

“We crossed the Lujan , which is a river of considerable size; but its course to the seashore is too incompletely known: it is even doubtful whether it does not evaporate or get lost during its course over the plains. We slept in the village of Lujan, which is a small place surrounded by gardens and the southernmost cultivated district in the province of Mendoza . It is five nautical miles south of the capital. During the night I witnessed an attack (because it hardly deserves a lesser name) by the Vinchuca , a species of Reduvius , the great black bug of the pampas. It is utterly repulsive to feel soft, wingless insects about an inch long crawl over its body. Before they start sucking, they are very thin. Later, however, they become round and bloated with blood, and in this state they are easily crushed. One such bug, which I found in Iquique (because they are also found in Chile and Peru), was completely empty. If it was put on the table, even though there were people around, the daring insect, when a finger was offered to it, immediately stuck out its trunk, made an attack and, if allowed, sucked blood. The wound does not cause pain. It was strange to watch the insect's body while it was sucking, as it changed from a flat shape like a wafer to a spherical ball in less than ten minutes. This one meal, for which the Vinchuca owed one of our officers thanks, kept her fat for four months; but after the first fourteen days she was completely ready to suck again. "

See also

Parasites of humans

swell

  1. ↑ (PDF file; 13 kB)
  2. ↑ Resistance to Starvation of Triatoma rubrofasciata (De Geer, 1773) under Laboratory Conditions (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ C. Galvão, JS Patterson, D. Da Silva Rocha, J. Jurberg, R. Carcavallo, K. Rajen, DP Ambrose, MA Miles: A new species of Triatominae from Tamil Nadu, India. In: Medical and veterinary entomology. Volume 16, Number 1, March 2002, ISSN  0269-283X , pp. 75-82, PMID 11963984 .

Web links

Commons : Triatominae  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Entomological laboratories