Triatoma gerstaeckeri
| Triatoma gerstaeckeri | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Family: | Reduviidae |
| Subfamily: | Triatominae |
| Genus: | Triatoma |
| Species: | T. gerstaeckeri |
| Binomial name | |
|
Triatoma gerstaeckeri (Stal, 1859) |
|
Triatoma gerstaeckeri is an assassin bug in the genus Triatoma (kissing bugs). It is an important vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. The range of T. gerstaeckeri includes New Mexico, most of Texas and northeast Mexico.T. gerstaeckeri goes through three stages during its paurometabolous life cycle: egg, nymphal instars and adult.
T. gerstaeckeri is between 20 and 30 mm long when fully developed. It is all black except for their yellow horizontal lines outside of the pronotum. The tip of its mouthparts have hairs, but the rest of the mouthparts do not.T. gerstaeckeri have long, narrow legs and a flat head. The first segment of its antennae is shorter than the clypeus on the insect’s head.T. gerstaeckeri have tubercles on its sides, and it has a round posterior that is very wrinkly. It has black forewings that cover the abdomen; the base of these forewings are yellowish orange.
T. gerstaeckeri is mostly found in the dry climates of northern Mexico, southern/central Texas and New Mexico where there is a lot of scrubby vegetation. Other Triatoma species are found throughout the United States. In Texas, 63% of the T. gerstaeckeri identified were found near houses. Out of 156 specimens of T. gerstaeckeri tested for the presence of T. cruzi in Texas, 55% were infected. In Mexico, 94% of the T. gerstaeckeri identified were found near houses.
T. gerstaeckeri is a reservoir for the parasite T. cruzi, which causes Chagas Disease. This is a very relevant disease in the Western Hemisphere because there are about 56,000 new incidents of Chagas Disease every year and about 12,000 deaths annually caused by this disease. All blood-feeding arthropods in the Triatoma genus are vectors of T. cruzi, so these numbers are not caused by T. gerstaeckeri alone. Chagas Disease is spread when an infected triatomine defecates on or near a host, causing the parasite to enter the body of the host, usually through the site of a wound. This is usually how T. cruzi is transmitted, but it can also occur during blood transfusion, organ donation or the consumption of contaminated food or drink.T. cruzi is not transmitted directly by biting. The most common animal hosts of T. gerstaeckeri are woodrats, but raccoons, opossums, humans and dogs are also common. There is no vaccine for Chagas Disease, so to decrease the prevalence of the disease, the spread of the T. gerstaeckeri and other Triatomine bugs must be limited.
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Wikipedia