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Why do biting horseflies prefer warmer hosts? tabanids can escape easier from warmer targets.

ABSTRACT: Blood-sucking horseflies (tabanids) prefer warmer (sunlit, darker) host animals and generally attack them in sunshine, the reason for which was unknown until now. Recently, it was hypothesized that blood-seeking female tabanids prefer elevated temperatures, because their wing muscles are quicker and their nervous system functions better at a warmer body temperature brought about by warmer microclimate, and thus they can more successfully avoid the host's parasite-repelling reactions by prompt takeoffs. To test this hypothesis, we studied in field experiments the success rate of escape reactions of tabanids that landed on black targets as a function of the target temperature, and measured the surface temperature of differently coloured horses with thermography. We found that the escape success of tabanids decreased with decreasing target temperature, that is escape success is driven by temperature. Our results explain the behaviour of biting horseflies that they prefer warmer hosts against colder ones. Since in sunshine the darker the host the warmer its body surface, our results also explain why horseflies prefer sunlit dark (brown, black) hosts against bright (beige, white) ones, and why these parasites attack their hosts usually in sunshine, rather than under shaded conditions.

SUBMITTER: Horvath G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7219777 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Why do biting horseflies prefer warmer hosts? tabanids can escape easier from warmer targets.

Horváth Gábor G Pereszlényi Ádám Á Egri Ádám Á Tóth Tímea T Jánosi Imre Miklós IM

PloS one 20200513 5

Blood-sucking horseflies (tabanids) prefer warmer (sunlit, darker) host animals and generally attack them in sunshine, the reason for which was unknown until now. Recently, it was hypothesized that blood-seeking female tabanids prefer elevated temperatures, because their wing muscles are quicker and their nervous system functions better at a warmer body temperature brought about by warmer microclimate, and thus they can more successfully avoid the host's parasite-repelling reactions by prompt ta ...[more]

PMID: 32401816

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Project description:Faustovirus, a new Asfarviridae-related giant virus, was recently isolated in Vermamoeba vermiformis, a protist found in sewage water in various geographical locations and occasionally reported in human eye infection cases. As part of a global metagenomic analysis of viral communities existing in biting midges, we report here for the first time the identification and isolation of a Faustovirus-like virus in hematophagous arthropods and its detection in their animal hosts. The DNA virome analysis of three pools of Culicoides sp., engorged female Culicoides imicola and non-engorged male/female C. imicola biting midges collected in Senegal, revealed the presence of amoeba-infecting giant viruses and, among them, a majority of sequences related to Faustovirus. Phylogenetic analyses conducted on several structural genes of Faustovirus confirmed the clustering of the arthropod-borne Faustovirus with sewage-borne Faustoviruses, with a distinct geographical clustering of Senegalese Faustovirus strains. Transmission electron microscopy identified viral particles with morphologies and diameters which were compatible with Faustovirus. The presence of infectious arthropod-borne Faustovirus was finally confirmed by successful isolation on V. vermiformis amoeba. Global proteomic analysis of biting midges identified that arthropods' blood meal originating from cattle, rodents and humans. Further screening of cattle sera and rodent tissue resulted in prevalence of Faustovirus being estimated at 38% in rodents and 14% in cattle, suggesting a possible origin of Faustovirus presence in arthropods via the ingestion of contaminated blood meal. Viral loads were the highest in rodents' urine and kidney samples, suggesting a possible excretion of viral particles into the environment. Faustovirus DNA polymerase-related sequences were also detected in more than 9 and 11% of febrile patients and healthy Senegalese human sera, respectively. Our study thus, highlights the need to investigate the role of arthropods, wildlife, and domestic animals in the lifecycle of amoeba-infecting giant viruses and, in particular, the environmental cycle of Faustovirus.

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Why do biting horseflies prefer warmer hosts? tabanids can escape easier from warmer targets.

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Why do biting horseflies prefer warmer hosts? tabanids can escape easier from warmer targets.

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