Temperature Stress and Development of Hymenolepis diminuta in Tribolium confusum on Different Diets

Abstract

Studies to determine the influence of host diet on development of the cestode H. diminuta in T. confusum in the presence of temperature stress show the following. Deleterious effects of high temperature stress during the sensitive period of cysticercoid development can be markedly reduced by feeding the beetle host (adults or larvae) pure sugars instead of whole wheat flour. Addition of water to a flour diet also results in modification of results obtained with flour alone. The most marked effects are obtained with diets consisting of saturated aqueous solutions of glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose, sucrose, arabinose or raffinose, which result in only 1/3 or less morphologically abnormal cysticercoids as compared to 2/3 or more abnormals when the host is fed on flour. Furthermore, when beetles are fed on sugar solutions, infectivity of cysticercoids to rats is markedly increased.