title: Feeding behaviour of Belminus ferroae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), a predaceous Triatominae colonizing rural houses in Norte de Santander, Colombia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Entomologia Médica, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Biomédicas (INBIOM), Universidad de Pamplona, Pamplona, Norte de Santander 1050, Colombia. magaly6@yahoo.com
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sandoval
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jaimes
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lorosa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Scorza
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003058:Cockroaches / Q000469:parasitology; D003105:Colombia; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012377:Rodentia / Q000469:parasitology; D012424:Rural Population; D014225:Triatominae / Q000502:physiology*