Twenty years of monitoring of mortality and fecundity of Triatoma infestans in the laboratory

Abstract

A colony of Triatoma infestans (Klug) has been maintained continuously in the laboratory “Colonia de Vinchucas” of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile since 1949, under a constant regime of temperature and humidity, recording weekly since 1983 the oviposition and deaths of individuals. This constitutes an invaluable record of a single long-term colony maintained in the same place and under the same environmental conditions for a number of years. The aim of this report was to study mortality and fecundity rates in this population of T. infestans maintained under constant environmental conditions, which may serve as a standard of comparison for other species or the same species under other environmental conditions. Fecundity and mortality time series showed seasonal fluctuations confirmed with the ARIMA model. The mean fecundity of T. infestans varied from averages of 0.39 eggs/female/week in autumn to 1.63 eggs/femal/week in spring, with maximum values of 7.59 eggs/female/week in spring and 5.83 eggs/female/week in summer. Maximum mean mortality rates were in spring and summer. Mortality rates of males and females were not different. Fluctuations of fecundity were of greater magnitude than mortality rates. The highest fecundity rates were also in spring and summer. Keywords: Fecundity, Mortality, Triatomines