RESUMO
The susceptibility of Aedes aegypti to Ascogregarina culicis and Aedes albopictus to Ascogregarina taiwanensis was examined with mosquito and parasite strains from Tampa, FL. When each host was bioassayed with its natural gregarine, the infection intensity indicated that Ae. aegypti was 59% more susceptible to A. culicis (87 gamonts/larva) than Ae. albopictus to A. taiwanensis (47 gamonts/larva). Infections in single and mixed host populations exposed to 100 oocysts/larva of one and both parasites demonstrated that Ae. aegypti harbors higher A. culicis gamont loads than Ae. albopictus of A. taiwanensis. In dual gregarine exposures of single host populations, the A. culicis infection intensity in Ae. aegypti was reduced by approximately 50%. A. taiwanensis exhibited the same capability of infecting Ae. albopictus in single and dual exposures. In mixed host populations there were no cross infections, but A. taiwanensis in Ae. albopictus produced an infection intensity of approximately 70% lower than that of A. culicis in Ae. aegypti.
Assuntos
Aedes/parasitologia , Apicomplexa/patogenicidade , Animais , Apicomplexa/fisiologia , Florida , Interações Hospedeiro-Parasita , Larva/parasitologia , Controle Biológico de VetoresRESUMO
An artificial feeding system was used where citrated bovine blood was offerred to male and female Amblyomma cajennense. Vestiges of blood, sweat, hair and exfoliated skin were used as phargo-stimulants placed on the surface of the silicone mambrane. The ticks were collected, as engorged nymphs, from naturally infested equines, with the ecdysis occurring in the laboratory. Four hundred ticks were used, 50 per cent being female, at three to four weeks post-ecdysis. Vestiges of blood on the silicone membrane were the most efficient phago-stimulant and the association of vestiges of blood and sweat residue smears yielded better results compared to the other phargo-stimulants used.