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“Living Syringes”: Use of Hematophagous Bugs as Blood Samplers from Small and Wild Animals

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Part of the book series: Parasitology Research Monographs ((Parasitology Res. Monogr.,volume 1))

Abstract

Sampling of blood from small and/or wild animals is very difficult since the animals are stressed strongly and can be severely affected by conventional sampling and/or anesthesia. Triatomines are the largest blood-sucking insects and feed on all warm-blooded animals including warm amphibia and reptiles. These insects develop through five larval instars which ingest increasing amounts of blood which is stored in the distensible stomach. There it is concentrated by the withdrawal of the fluid components and remains essentially undigested. Since the blood can be withdrawn easily with a syringe and used for determination of blood and physiological parameters and for the identification of pathogens, triatomines offer a noninvasive method to obtain blood samples. Especially larvae of Rhodnius prolixus, Triatoma infestans, and Dipetalogaster maxima are used as “living syringes.” In this review we summarize the application of this methodology and its advantages and disadvantages.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. R. Cassada for correcting the English style. We are deeply indebted to Dr. Ulrich Schürer and Dr. Arne Lawrenz from the Zoological Garden Wuppertal for permission and support of the studies. We also thank them, Andreas Fischer and Stephan Gatzen for the permission to use their photos.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ZoologicalGarden, Wuppertal, Germany

    André Stadler

  2. Department of Animal Ecology, Zoology/Parasitology Group, Evolution and Biodiversity Group, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Christian Karl Meiser & Günter A. Schaub

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  1. André Stadler
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  2. Christian Karl Meiser
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  3. Günter A. Schaub
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Correspondence to Günter A. Schaub .

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  1. Department of Zoomorphology, Cell Biology and Parasitology,, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstr. 1, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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Stadler, A., Meiser, C.K., Schaub, G.A. (2011). “Living Syringes”: Use of Hematophagous Bugs as Blood Samplers from Small and Wild Animals. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Nature Helps.... Parasitology Research Monographs, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19382-8_11

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