| Abstract
| - Abstract. Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi is crucially dependent on the timing of defaecation by their insect vectors. Experimental studies on Rhodnius prolixus nymphs revealed a negative correlation between blood meal weight and defaecation time. Bugs which fed to repletion defaecated on average 7 min after feeding, whereas bugs with interrupted feeds defaecated about 1 h later. As blood meal weight of triatomine bugs is density-dependent, these results suggest that the greatest risk of successful T. cruzi transmission would occur in recently colonized houses where the bug population is still increasing, or in houses recolonized after a vector control attempt.
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