背景：现存的152种接吻虫包括衰弱的重要载体，慢性，通常是致命的查加斯病，主要影响中美洲和南美洲的数百万人。对这种特殊的采血昆虫的自然宿主的了解已经并将继续帮助正在进行的努力，以阻止查加斯病的传播。然而,关于接吻虫生物学的信息是零碎和零散的，在100多年的时间里，使用不同精度的方法开发。现有的寄主记录严重偏向于经过充分研究的主要媒介物种，并且主要来自三种不同类型的观察结果，联想,免疫学或基于DNA的，不同的可靠性。
方法：我们通过严格有针对性地搜索出版物数据库来收集报告主机关联的全面且无与伦比的来源，以审查所有已知的自然，或者sylvatic，主机记录，包括有关如何收集每个记录的信息。我们将这些信息与通过尝试扩增和测序来自64个Triatominae档案标本胃肠道的脊椎动物12S线粒体基因的160碱基对（bp）区域而获得的新宿主记录相结合，这些标本代表了19个物种，这些物种主要在过去10年中在美国南部和中美洲和南美洲的热带生境中收集。我们展示了这种方法用于发现新颖且研究不足的Triatominae宿主群的实用性，以及通过锥虫18S基因的一个~400bp序列的聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测查加斯病病原体的存在。
结果：确定了几组树栖哺乳动物的新宿主关联，包括树懒，新世界猴子,coatis,树栖豪猪和,第一次作为任何Triatominae的宿主，Tayras.对以前记录的sylvatic宿主的彻底审查，由三叶碱物种和观察类型组织(联想，基于抗体，或基于DNA的)，在系统发育的背景下呈现，并强调了我们对Triatominae生物学知识的巨大差距。
结论：基于DNA的宿主鉴定方法对Triatominae其他物种的应用，包括很少收集的可能需要使用档案标本的物种，是解决公认不足的最有效和最有前途的方法。
BACKGROUND: The 152 extant species of kissing bug include important vectors of the debilitating, chronic, and often fatal Chagas disease, which affects several million people mainly in Central and South America. An understanding of the natural hosts of this speciose group of blood-feeding insects has and will continue to aid ongoing efforts to impede the spread of Chagas disease. However, information on kissing bug biology is piecemeal and scattered, developed using methods with varying levels of accuracy over more than 100 years. Existing host records are heavily biased towards well-studied primary vector species and are derived from primarily three different types of observations, associational, immunological or DNA-based, with varying reliability.
METHODS: We gather a comprehensive and unparalleled number of sources reporting host associations via rigorous targeted searches of publication databases to
review all known natural, or sylvatic, host records including information on how each record was collected. We integrate this information with novel host records obtained via attempted amplification and sequencing of a ∼160 base pair (bp) region of the vertebrate 12S mitochondrial gene from the gastrointestinal tract of 64 archival specimens of Triatominae representing 19 species collected primarily in sylvatic habitats throughout the southern United States and Central and South America during the past 10 years. We show the utility of this method for uncovering novel and under-studied groups of Triatominae hosts, as well as detecting the presence of the Chagas disease pathogen via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) of a ∼400 bp sequence of the trypanosome 18S gene.
RESULTS: New host associations for several groups of arboreal mammals were determined including sloths, New World monkeys, coatis, arboreal porcupines and, for the first time as a host of any Triatominae, tayras. A thorough
review of previously documented sylvatic hosts, organized by triatomine species and the type of observation (associational, antibody-based, or DNA-based), is presented in a phylogenetic context and highlights large gaps in our knowledge of Triatominae biology.
CONCLUSIONS: The application of DNA-based methods of host identification towards additional species of Triatominae, including rarely collected species that may require use of archival specimens, is the most efficient and promising way to resolve recognized shortfalls.
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