Bloodmeal‐stealing in wild‐caught Mepraia spinolai (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), a sylvatic vector of Trypanosoma cruzi

1. Blood‐feeding bugs in the Triatominae are the vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. Mepraia is a sylvatic genus endemic to Chile that transmits T. cruzi in the wild cycle. 2. Bloodmeal‐stealing (or ‘cleptohaematophagy’) is the stealing of a bloodmeal from one bug's gut by another, usually conspecific bug. Bloodmeal‐stealing can result in horizontal transmission of T. cruzi between triatomines; so far, it has been reported only in laboratory‐reared bugs. 3. We performed short laboratory experiments to test whether bloodmeal‐stealing occurs between wild‐caught Mepraia spinolai nymphs. Successful bloodmeal‐stealing was observed in one out of 17 trials (2/102 bugs). Even though bloodmeal‐stealing was not frequent in wild‐caught M. spinolai, this behaviour might contribute to explaining the maintenance of wild T. cruzi cycles.