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[Preprint]. 2025 May 15:2025.05.09.653139.
doi: 10.1101/2025.05.09.653139.

Advancing the design of the kissing bug kill trap for surveillance of triatomines

Yuexun Tian  1 , Nadia A Fernández-Santos  1   2 , Jose G Juarez  3   4 , Henry Esquivel  5 , Andrea M Moller-Vasquez  4 , María Granados-Presa  4 , Adriana Echeverria  4 , Pamela Pennington  4 , Juan P Fimbres-Macias  6 , Walter Roachell  7 , Paul Lenhart  7 , Theresa Casey  8 , Molly E Keck  9 , Carolyn L Hodo  10 , Christopher H Downs  1   11 , Sarah C Sittenauer  1 , Claire Nevins  1 , Sujata Balasubramanian  6 , Carlos Angulo  12 , Carlos Palacios-Cardiel  12 , Ramon Gaxiola-Robles  12 , Tania Zenteno-Savin  12 , Sarah A Hamer  6 , John H Borden  13 , Michael G Banfield  11 , Norma Padilla  4 , Gabriel L Hamer  1
Affiliations

Advancing the design of the kissing bug kill trap for surveillance of triatomines

Yuexun Tian et al. bioRxiv. .

Abstract

Standardized surveillance and control of kissing bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae), the insect vectors of the Chagas disease parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas disease, remains difficult. The Kissing Bug Kill Trap consists of solar powered LED lights mounted over a column of black funnels. It operates autonomously to capture, kill and preserve triatomines. We conducted experiments from 2022-2024 testing potential ways to improve trap performance, ease of deployment, and minimize cost. Thirteen prototypes evaluated in Texas, Guatemala, and Mexico captured 1,531 triatomines. In 2022-2023 we selected a six-funnel trap suspended from a single support pole with an angle bracket, and with four LED lights and a solar panel mounted above the rain-guard, as a reference trap. In 2023, traps with smaller funnels, blue funnels, and blue lights were inferior to the reference trap based on high by-catch of other arthropods and/or fewer triatomines caught per day. In 2024, traps with more or fewer than six funnels or with LED lights mounted on or below the rain guard did not outperform the reference trap. The experiments added five new triatomine species to the four already known to be caught by the Kissing Bug Kill Trap and revealed differences and similarities in phenology of dispersal flights of Triatoma gerstaeckeri over a three-year period in Texas. The reference trap was selected as the pre-commercial prototype, based on its suitability for triatomine surveillance and potential for reducing the risk of T. cruzi infection by intercepting dispersing adult triatomines before they reach human habitats.

Keywords: Insect solar-light traps; arthropod vectors; neglected tropical diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors do not have conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map of the locations of the traps in Texas, USA, Mexico, and Guatemala during 2022–2024. BRGVSP: Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park; ELGSP: Estero Llano Grande State Park; RDLPSP: Resaca De La Palma State Park; PR: private residence.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Diagram of the evaluation locations of Kissing Bug Kill Trap in Texas, Guatemala, and Mexico with different trap prototypes (Table 1) deployed from 2022–2024.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Kissing Bug Kill Trap prototypes evaluated in 2022. A) 6-funnel Multitrap trap with two large light panels deployed in Texas (TRAP1); B) 6-funnel Multitrap trap with 4 small light panels deployed in Texas (TRAP2), C) TRAP1 prototype deployed in Guatemala, D) TRAP2 prototype deployed in Guatemala.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Five Kissing Bug Kill Trap prototypes evaluated in Texas in 2023. A) TRAP2A, Multitrap with 6 funnelsand 4-panel LED lights, with the entire assembly supported by an angle bracket attached to a single pole; B) Lindgren black funnel trap with 8 funnels and 4-panel lights (TRAP4); C) Lindgren black funnel with 4 funnels and 4-panel lights (TRAP5); D) Lindgren blue funnel trap with 8 funnels and 4-panel lights; E) Lindgren blue funnel trap with 8 funnels and blue LED light strips (TRAP7); F) Lindgren black funnel trap with 11 nested funnels and 4-panel lights (TRAP-MEXICO).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Kissing Bug Kill Traps deployed in Texas in 2024. Group one compares Multitraps with A) TRAP8, 3 funnels, B) TRAP2A, 6 funnels, C) TRAP9, 9 funnels, and D) TRAP10, 12 funnels, and Group 2 compares Multitraps with E) TRAP11, 4 LED lights above the rainguard, F) TRAP12, 4 LED lights on the perimeter of rainguard, G) TRAP13, 4 LED lights under the rainguard, and H) 5 LED lights under the rainguard.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Number of each triatomine species and sex collected from the traps from 2022–2024.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Weekly phenology of Triatoma gerstaeckeri catch per day per trap in 2022–2024 at south Texas and San Antonio. The trap data for all south Texas locations and all San Antonio locations are averaged. Each dot indicates that traps were checked, even if no triatomines were caught.
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