Fig. 3

Weight loss due to diuresis in wCle-present (+wCle) and wCle-free (–wCle) bed bugs with and without vitamin supplementation. (A) Bed bugs fed blood without supplemented vitamins. Each repeated body mass measure of each individual wCle-free (n = 11) and wCle-present bed bug (n = 13–15) was normalized to the body mass of that individual immediately after blood feeding (0 h). The body mass of wCle-free bed bugs was significantly higher than that of wCle-present bed bugs at 1, 2, 3, and 24 h post-feeding (asterisk, Wilcoxon test, P < 0.001). There was a significantly slower rate of diuresis in wCle-free (n = 11) bed bugs over 24 h compared to wCle-present (n = 13) bed bugs (Friedman test, P < 0.0001). (B) Vitamin rescue experiment showing changes in body mass 2 h post-feeding in wCle-present bed bugs with no vitamin supplementation, wCle-free bed bugs with no vitamin supplementation, and wCle-free bed bugs supplemented with B-vitamins (rescue). The 2 h post-feeding body mass was normalized to the respective body mass of the same individual immediately after blood-feeding (0 h). Treatments that do not share lowercase letters are significantly different (Wilcoxon pairwise test with multiple comparisons and Bonferroni correction, P < 0.017). Summary data are shown as box plots and sample sizes are shown in parenthesis. Non-parametric tests were used because these data were not normally distributed (Shapiro-Wilk test).