Capillary gas-liquid chromatography was used to analyse the
cuticular hydrocarbons of three triatomine species,
Triatoma dimidiata
,
T. barberi
and
Dipetalogaster maxima
, domestic vectors of Chagas disease in Mexico. Mixtures of saturated hydrocarbons
of straight and methyl-branched chains were characteristic of the three
species, but quantitatively different. Major methylbranched components mostly
corresponded to different saturated isomers of monomethyl, dimethyl and
trimethyl branched hydrocarbons ranging from 29 to 39 carbon backbones.
Sex-dependant, quantitative differences in certain hydrocarbons were apparent
in
T. dimidiata
.
