Data from: Seasonality and temperature-dependent flight dispersal of Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) and other vectors of Chagas disease in western Argentina

Flight dispersal of Triatominae is affected by climatic conditions and
determines the spatiotemporal patterns of house invasion and transmission
of Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae). We
investigated the detailed time structure and temperature dependencies of
flight occurrence of Triatoma infestans Klug (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) and
other triatomine species in a rural village of western Argentina by taking
advantage of the attraction of adult triatomines to artificial light
sources. Most of the village’s streetlight posts were systematically
inspected for triatomines twice between sunset and midnight over 425
nights in the spring–summer seasons of 1999–2002, an unprecedented
light-trap sampling effort for any triatomine species. In total, 288
adults were captured, including 122 Triatoma guasayana Wygodzinsky and
Abalos, 89 T. infestans, 72 Triatoma eratyrusiformis Del Ponte, and 5
Triatoma garciabesi Carcavallo et al. Adult sex ratios were balanced in T.
infestans and strongly male-biased in other species. Nearly all
flight-dispersing triatomines were caught when temperatures at sunset were
>20 °C (range, 16.6–31.7 °C), suggesting a putative threshold
around 17–18 °C. Triatomine catches were rare on rainy days. Logistic
regression analysis revealed that the proportion of nights in which at
least an adult T. infestans was caught increased highly significantly with
increasing temperature at sunset and was modified by collection month,
with greater catches in early spring and no sex differential. This study
confirms that spring represents a previously overlooked, important
dispersal period of T. infestans, and shows large variations among and
within Triatominae in their temporal patterns of flight occurrence,
abundance, and sex ratio.