Fig 1.
Study site and environmental temperatures.
Map of North-central Chile showing in hatch pattern the distribution of Mepraia spinolai and the study site, El Cuyano (left). Photographs of the rocky outcrop where M. spinolai are collected and a late stage nymph of M. spinolai (top right). Boxplot of minimum (blue boxes) and maximum (red boxes) temperatures from October 2016 to December 2018, indicating the capturing month of the four groups of M. spinolai under study: winter and spring 2017 (W-17, S-17) and 2018 (W-18, S-18) (bottom right). The proportion of collected bugs per development stage is shown for each capture event: early (I and II) and late (III, IV, and V) stage nymphs, and adults (A). Photos by Carezza Botto-Mahan. Base layer of the map available at https://www.ide.cl/index.php/informacion-territorial/descargar-informacion-territorial.
Table 1.
Number of Mepraia spinolai individuals, shown by development stage, collected in the field in two seasons of two consecutive years and laboratory fed.
Table 2.
PCR results and percentage of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Mepraia spinolai collected in winter (W) and spring (S) of 2017 (17) and 2018 (18) surviving two feeding events, shown combined and by early (I-II) and late (III to adults) stages.
Fig 2.
Percentage of Mepraia spinolai (all development stages combined) with presence of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA detected by PCR in fecal/urine samples during two laboratory feedings, in the four collecting events (W-17, S-17, W-18, S-18).
The four types of PCR results are shown: both fecal samples positive (+/+), first fecal sample negative and second positive (-/+), first fecal sample positive and second negative (+/-), and both fecal samples negatives (-/-).
Fig 3.
Percentage of Trypanosoma cruzi infection (all development stages combined) in each Mepraia spinolai group (W-17, S-17, W-18, S-18) for the first PCR (+/+) only or follow-up (+/+ and -/+).
P-values are shown above each comparison. Statistically significant differences are in bold. (+/-) probably corresponds to bugs that excreted dead parasites in the first PCR (i.e., with T. cruzi DNA remains).