Born in Argentina, studied biology in Argentina and Germany. Currently Professor at the Universities of Tours (Frande) and Buenos Aires (Argentina; Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (UK). Specialised in animal behavioural physiology and sensory ecology, his research activities focus on the study of the adaptations to the haematophagous life of arthropods, using an integrative approach. The research models include mosquitoes, kissing bugs, lice, ticks and other blood-sucking groups, developing his research at the Research Institute in Insect Biology (IRBI-UMR7261-CNRS).

How to feed on blood without dying in the process

Vertebrate blood is highly nutritious and otherwise sterile, except for the possible presence of parasites. This has led many animals, especially arthropods, to adopt it as their main or even sole food source. However, feeding on blood is a risky task that requires specific morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations to overcome several major problems associated with the haematophagous lifestyle. One of them is that this potential food is not freely available in nature, but circulates in vessels hidden under the skin of mobile vertebrate hosts that are able to defend themselves or even prey on blood-sucking arthropods. On the other hand, the rapid ingestion of relatively large amounts of warm fluid exposes haematophagous animals to thermal and oxidative stress, which can be detrimental to the organism itself, its symbiotic biota and the parasites it transmits. Some important adaptations that allow blood-sucking animals to cope with these problems have been elucidated, providing a new perspective on haematophagous physiology and behaviour, with some implications for disease vector control. During the talk, we will discuss how the strong selective pressures that haematophagous have faced throughout their evolutionary history have modelled unique adaptations associated with this particular lifestyle.