Oviposition in the blood-sucking insect Rhodnius prolixus is modulated by host odors

Background: triatomine bugs are blood-sucking insects,vectors of chagas disease. despite their importance,their oviposition behavior has received relatively little attention. some triatomines including rhodnius prolixus stick their eggs to a substrate. it is known that mechanical cues stimulate oviposition in this species. however,it is not clear if chemical signals play a role in this behavior. we studied the role of host cues,including host odor,in the oviposition behavior of the triatomine r. prolixus. methods: tests were carried out in an experimental arena and stimuli consisted of a mouse or hen feathers. the number of eggs laid and the position of those eggs with respect to the stimulus source were recorded. data were analyzed using the mann-whitney and kruskal-wallis tests. results: both a mouse and hen feathers stimulated oviposition. in addition,hen feathers evoked a particular spatial distribution of eggs that was not observed in the case of mouse. conclusions: we propose that volatile chemical cues from the host play a role in the oviposition behavior of triatomines that stick their eggs. thus,host odor would stimulate and spatially guide oviposition. © 2015 guidobaldi and guerenstein; licensee biomed central.