Cyanolicimex patagonicus, Carpintero, Di Iorio, Masello & Turienzo, 2010

Roth, Steffen, Hahn, Steffen, Montani, María Eugenia & Coscarón, María Del Carmen, 2023, Contribution to the Cimicidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna from Argentina: biology and geographical distribution, Zootaxa 5323 (4), pp. 587-594 : 592

Remarks on the biology of Cyanolicimex patagonicus

The bedbug C. patagonicus was recognized as a separate species only a few years ago and is known as a parasite of the rock parakeets ( Cyanoliseus patagonus (Vieillot, 1818) , Psittacidae ) ( Di Iorio et al. 2010). In December 2018 we (SR and SH) visited the El Condor rock parakeet colony (Province of Río Negro), the largest parrot colony in the world ( Masello et al. 2008), in search for C. patagonicus . An approximately 15–20 meter long strip of the rock face from the beach floor to a height of about 1.80 m was carefully examined at two different localities ( Table 1 ), resulting in 167 specimens of bugs, including some dead ones ( Table 1 ). The sex ratio (male/female) of adults was close to 1:1 (0.49:0.51), and about 15% of the collected individuals were nymphs, including all instars (see Carpintero et al. 2011, for similar data for other Haematosiphoninae species). We found numerous dead and living bugs at the foot or on small rock ledges of the steep slope of the parakeet colony; most of them under a stone on a ledge at a height of about 1.20 m (locality 1, see Table 1 ). At locality 2 ( Table 1 ) we recorded many ground beetles and spiders, the latter were observed hunting bedbugs. It was already suspected (but not directly observed) that bugs escape from the zone with predators upwards on the walls, try to hide under stones, or may only move at night ( Bressa et al. 2021). Juan Masello (in litt.) refers to special hiding places for Cyanolicimex bugs at the El Condor colony. Bressa et al. (2021) reported that bedbugs burrow quickly in the sand, a very unusual behaviour, given that exposure to sand often elicits the alarm pheromone in C. lectularius ( Levinson et al., 1974) . In general, it is unclear whether the bedbugs stay in the breeding caves of parakeets after their bloodmeal. Di Iorio et al. (2010), Bressa et al. (2021) and Juan Masello (in litt.) reported that the bugs reside outside the breeding chambers in crevices in the rock. However, Masello (in litt.) also collected individual bugs in the parakeets’ breeding chambers, and pointed out that the birds tend to throw out the bugs during expanding and cleaning of their breeding chambers.

Judging from experiences with both body volume and dark colour of the abdomen after blood sucking in Cimicidae ( Hase 1917, Reinhardt et al. 2007, Reinhardt et al. 2010), many of the collected living individuals of C. patagonicus (62.5% at locality 1 and 30% at locality 2) appeared to have sucked blood (64.1% of females, 19.0% of males, 50% of fifth instar, 73.8% of third and fourth instar, and 80% of first and second instar nymphs) ( Table 1 ). It remains unclear to what extent their development is synchronized with the reproductive cycle of the parakeets, which had not yet started breeding in December 2018.