Aspects of peridomiciliary ecotopes in rural areas of northeastern Brazil associated to triatomine (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) infestation, vectors of chagas disease.
Artificial ecotopes of 121 peridomiciliary environments in four rural localities in the state of Ceará, Brazil, were studied and the type of material of the ecotopes was identified as triatomine infestation. Two thousand two hundred and four Triatoma brasiliensis Neiva, 340 Triatoma pseudomaculata Corrêa and Espínola, 121 Rhodnius nasutus Stall, and 5 Panstrongylus lutzi (Neiva and Pinto) were captured. Out of the 323 ecotopes found (X = 2.0 +/- 1.8 per dwelling) - such as pigpens, henhouses, corrals, perches, dovecotes, piles of roofing tiles, bricks, wood, and straw - 30.3% were infested by triatomines in all different developmental stages, including eggs. A substantial number of triatomines were found in perches, however the largest infestation took place in roofing materials used in the construction of goat/sheep corrals, henhouses, and pigpens, where 98% of them were captured: 1372 triatomines were located in the roofing tile covers, 285 in the straw, 187 in the perches, 77 in the coverings of roofing tiles and straw, and 13 in the straw and wood Among all the different pile of materials, roofing tiles were the most infested (50%) followed by bricks (38.9%) and woods (36.1%). T. brasiliensis colonized mainly brick piles (chi-squared = 16.539; p < 0.05) and roofing tiles (chi-squared = 5,090.58; p < 0.05); T. pseudomaculata preferred wood perches (chi-squared = 472.39; p < 0.05) and woodpiles (chi-squared = 126.0 p < 0.05), and R. nasutus was principally found in roofing straw (chi-squared = 384.43; p < 0.05). These findings suggest that triatomines tend to colonize peridomiciliary ecotopes similar to their original habitats.
Sarquis
Otília
O
Departamento de Biologia Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Av. Brasil 4365, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Sposina
Ricardo
R
de Oliveira
Tiago Guedes
TG
Mac Cord
José Roberto
JR
Cabello
Pedro Hernan
PH
Borges-Pereira
José
J
Lima
Marli Maria
MM
D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000469:parasitology*; D001938:Brazil; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D012424:Rural Population; D014225:Triatominae / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*