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Water vapour and heat combine to elicit biting and biting persistence in tsetse
Auteur(s)
Chappuis, Charles JF
Béguin, Steve
In
Parasites and Vectors, BioMed Central, 2013/6/240/1-11
Résumé
Tsetse flies are obligatory blood feeders, accessing capillaries by piercing the skin of their hosts with the haustellum to suck blood. However, this behaviour presents a considerable risk as landing flies are exposed to predators as well as the host’s own defense reactions such as tail flicking. Achieving a successful blood meal within the shortest time span is therefore at a premium in tsetse, so feeding until replete normally lasts less than a minute. Biting in blood sucking insects is a multi-sensory response involving a range of physical and chemical stimuli. Here we investigated the role of heat and humidity emitted from host skin on the biting responses of <i>Glossina pallidipes</i>, which to our knowledge has not been fully studied in tsetse before.
Identifiants
Type de publication
journal article
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