''Triatoma infestans'', commonly called winchuka or vinchuca in Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile, barbeiro in Brazil, chipo in Venezuela and also known as "kissing bug" or "barber bug" in English, is a blood-sucking bug (like virtually all the members of its subfamily

Triatominae The members of the Triatominae , a subfamily of the Reduviidae, are also known as conenose bugs, kissing bugs (so-called from their habit of feeding from around the mouths of people), or vampire bugs. Other local names for them used in The Amer ...

) and the most important

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

of ''

Trypanosoma cruzi ''Trypanosoma cruzi'' is a species of parasitic euglenoids. Among the protozoa, the trypanosomes characteristically bore tissue in another organism and feed on blood (primarily) and also lymph. This behaviour causes disease or the likelihood o ...

'' which can lead to Chagas disease. It is widespread in the Southern Cone countries of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. This region has joined the control intervention called ''Southern Cone Initiative'' managed by the

PAHO The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency working to improve the health and living standards of the people of the Americas. It is part of the United Nations system, serving as the Regional Office for ...

. During the ''Beagle'' survey voyage,

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

noted in his journal for 26 March 1835 having "experienced an attack, & it deserves no less a name, of the ''Benchuca'', the great black bug of the Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over ones body; before sucking they are quite thin, but afterwards round & bloated with blood, & in this state they are easily squashed."

Richard Keynes Richard Darwin Keynes, CBE, FRS ( ; 14 August 1919 – 12 June 2010) was a British physiologist. The great-grandson of Charles Darwin, Keynes edited his great-grandfather's accounts and illustrations of Darwin's famous voyage aboard into ''T ...

describes this ''Benchuca'' as being ''Triatoma infestans''. Darwin is speculated to have died from chronic Chagas disease.

Distribution

''T. infestans'' has both a wide range of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s/ecologies and geographic areas it inhabits - the former being the reason for the latter.

Ecological distribution

''T. infestans'' is almost an exclusively domestic species, especially as a household pest in the Cochabamba Valley in Bolivia and parts of

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. There remain a few freeliving populations in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. Tends to displace other Triatominae vectors of Chagas including '' Panstrongylus megistus'', '' T. sordida'', '' T. brasiliensis'', and '' T. pseudomaculata''.

Geographical distribution

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(only widespread from 1955-1964, likely by immigrants from the south to

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it List of Brazilian states by population, sev ...

, likely continuing to be spread by internal migration), El Salvador,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

(anthropic transportation),

(especially as a household pest in some areas),

(especially as a household pest in some areas).

Biology

Defecation

Defecation is central to the ''T. cruzi'' transmission cycle of Triatomines. There is no direct transmission by feeding, instead deposition of parasites is ''associated'' with a bloodmeal but occurs solely by defecation. Trumper and Gorla 1991 find transmission to be inversely correlated with vector density: Crowded areas tend to have ''T. infestans'' interrupting each other, and interrupted feedings do not provide as much as a completed bloodmeal. ''T. infestans'' is unlikely to defecate when not sated and so rarely transmits. Low vector density areas therefore have high rates of transmission. . . .

References

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External links

Information on ''Triatoma infestans'' and other members of Triatominae
by Andreas Rose

by Fernando Otálora-Luna Reduviidae Insect vectors of human pathogens Chagas disease Fauna of Argentina Fauna of Bolivia Fauna of Chile Fauna of Peru Insects of South America Insects described in 1834 Taxa named by Johann Christoph Friedrich Klug {{Parasite-insect-stub