Rhodnius prolixus

Rhodnius prolixus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Family:	Reduviidae
Subfamily:	Triatominae
Genus:	Rhodnius
Species:	R. prolixus
Binomial name
Rhodnius prolixus Stål, 1859

Rhodnius prolixus is the second most important triatomine vector of the Chagas parasite due to its efficient adaptation to the human domicile in northern South America, where sylvatic populations also exist, and in Central America where it is exclusively domestic. It has a wide range of ecotopes, mainly savanna and foothills (500 to 1500 m above sea level) at different ranges of humidity between 16 and 28°C. Sylvatic R. prolixus, as virtually all Rhodnius spp., is primarily associated with palm tree habitats, and has a wide range of hosts, including birds, rodents, marsupials, sloths and reptiles.

The insect was used by Sir Vincent Wigglesworth for the detection of insect hormones. It has been implicated in the transmission of transposons between it and some of its vertebrate hosts, squirrel monkeys and oppossums.^[1]

Rhodnius prolixus is also known as the kissing bug because it feeds on people's faces.

As disease vector

Chagas disease is caused by the parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Infection with Chagas disease occurs after Rhodnius releases protozoans in its feces immediately following a blood meal. The parasite enters the victim through the bite wound after scratching the bite. Infection may also occur via blood transfusion and ingestion of food contaminated with kissing bug feces.

Rhodnius prolixus - (shows range of nymph stages through to adult)

See also

• Vector epidemiology
• Female sperm storage
• Inherited sterility in insects
• Nitrophorins
• Hematophagy
• Hemozoin
• Proctolin

References

1. ^ Clément, Gilbert; Schaack, Sarah; Pace II, John K.; Brindley, Paul J.; Feschotte, Cédric (2010). "A role for host-parasite interactions in the horizontal transfer of transposons across phyla". Nature 464 (7293): 1347. doi:10.1038/nature08939. PMID 20428170. 

Further reading

William C Marquardt et al (2004), Chapter 5: Kissing Bugs and Bedbugs the Heteroptera, Biology of Disease Vectors (2nd edition), Academic Press, ISBN 978-0-12-473276-6

External links

• VectorBase's genomic resource for Rhodnius prolixus
• Rhodnius prolixus from Animal Diversity Web
• General description of Rhodnius prolixus, including blood feeding and sylvatic compounds, from the University of Arizona
• Kissing bugs with bite from the Journal of Young Investigators
• Genome sequencing project at Washington University