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Behavioural responses of the haematophagous bug Triatoma infestans (Klug) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) to visual stimuli

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J. P. Ward  and
L. H. Finlayson
J. P. Ward
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
L. H. Finlayson*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
*
*Correspondence to Professor L. H. Finlayson.
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Abstract

Behavioural responses of Triatoma infestans (Klug) to visual stimuli were analysed using a novel method involving remote monitoring of individual tethered bugs. T. infestans showed negative phototactic behaviour and a reduction in activity in response to a directional white light stimulus at an intensity of 1·2 /µW/cm2. A lower intensity of white light (0·6 µW/cm2) elicited a similar negative phototaxis but failed to induce a significant reduction in activity. The response to green light at 0·6 µW/cm2 was similar to that towards white light at 1·2 µW/cm2. Blue light did not induce any behavioural responses, whereas red light induced a significant reduction in activity at the lower intensity but did not affect phototaxis. Infrared radiation did not induce any significant behavioural effects, but there was an indication that T. infestans can detect near infrared radiation (750 nm). The activity response to the higher intensity white light appeared to be mediated primarily by the compound eyes. The dorsal ocelli, however, were involved in the directing of the phototactic response. T. infestans responded to moving objects by a marked reduction in activity. Slowly moving objects induced a following response, whereas more quickly moving objects did not.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , September 1982 , pp. 357 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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