Symbiotic Bacteria in a Blood-sucking Insect, Rhodnius Prolixus Stål. (Hemiptera, Triatomidae)

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Abstract
A bacterial organism is described which occurs constantly in Rhodnius prolixus. It is present in the unfed newly hatched insect inside the cells at the cardiac end of the mid-gut. Some days after feeding, the bacteria are set free into the cavity of the gut and multiply in the undigested blood in the stomach. They are ultimately digested in the intestine.Morphologically they resemble diphtheroid bacilli in being highly pleomorphic and in giving rise to thread-like forms in old cultures.Preliminary experiments with Lucilia larvae by Dr R. P. Hobson, suggest that when blood is infected by this micro-organism it contains “vitamin B” and becomes an adequate diet for insect growth.These observations support the view that symbiotic organisms in exclusively blood-sucking insects provide an endogenous source of vitamin.