Exploring Dispersal Behavior in Adult Triatoma sanguisuga Kissing Bugs in Alachua County, Florida, USA

Authors

  • Sloane Murphy Department of Geography, Univeristy of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611; Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611
  • Abigail C. Pope Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611 https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2289-0087
  • Chanakya R. Bhosale Nova Southeastern University, Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0822-2922
  • Bernardo Moreno Peniche Department of Anthropology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3710
  • Steven T. Cassidy Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4569-5910
  • Devin G. Travers Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611
  • Brett LaBella Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611
  • Rachel K. Obora Department of Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611
  • Andrea Guzman-Garcia Department of Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611 https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9005-6218
  • Hannah D. Huynh Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611
  • Evan Teal Department of Environmental and Global Health, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0422-0305
  • Gabriela Hamerlinck Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5794-6516
  • Carl N. Keiser Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611; Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4936-7810
  • Norman Beatty Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611; Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32473/ufjur.28.141678

Keywords:

Triatomine, Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, Neglected Tropical Disease, kissing bugs

Abstract

There is a scientific lack of understanding of the dispersal behavior of hematophagous meal-seeking triatomine bugs in the United States. The primary objective of this study is to address this gap by collecting bloodmeal-seeking bugs in a remote area of Alachua County, Florida, USA, while recording various climatological variables such as rainfall, wind speed, temperature, humidity, cloud cover, and lunar phase. It is established that kissing bug dispersal has a significant impact on the prevalence of Chagas Disease (CD), a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) frequent in tropical climates around the world. We hypothesized that these environmental factors may influence the activity of kissing bugs (KB), specifically throughout the summer months, in which Florida’s climate is comparable to that of these CD endemic tropical regions. Initial analyses revealed that increased temperature and decreased rainfall had positive correlations with bug activity, supporting our claims that KB in Florida may influence a higher transmission rate throughout the five-month period between April and August, 2024.

Downloads

Published

2026-09-21

Issue

Vol. 28 (2026): UF Journal of Undergraduate Research

Section

STEM & Medicine

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Sloane Murphy, Abigail C. Pope, Chanakya R. Bhosale, Bernardo Moreno Peniche, Steven T. Cassidy, Devin G. Travers, Brett LaBella, Rachel K. Obora, Andrea Guzman-Garcia, Hannah D. Huynh, Evan Teal, Gabriela Hamerlinck, Carl N. Keiser, Norman Beatty

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Some journals stipulate that submitted articles cannot be under consideration for publication or published in another journal. The student-author and mentor have the option of determining which journal the paper will be submitted to first. UF JUR accepts papers that have been published in other journals or might be published in the future. It is the responsibility of the student-author and mentor to determine whether another journal will accept a paper that has been published in UF JUR.