Amblyomma aureolatum and Ixodes auritulus (Acari: Ixodidae) on birds in southern Brazil, with notes on their ecology

Abstract

Between January 1999 and December 2000, 876 bird specimens were captured in three different ecological environments from the Reinhard Maack Park, Curitiba, State of Paraná, southern Brazil. A total of 142 birds (16.2%) were infested with Amblyomma aureolatum (Pallas 1772) (N=699) and/or Ixodes auritulus Neumann, 1904 (N=18) ticks. Questing A. aureolatum nymphs (N=2) and adults (N=5) were also collected from the soil and the vegetation. None of the I. auritulus were collected off-host. We collected only immatures of A. aureolatum on birds, but all life stages of I. auritulus. The latter species was collected on Turdus rufiventris and on Synallaxis ruficapilla, which is herein recognized as a host of I. auritulus for the first time. Moreover, this is also the first report of A. aureolatum infesting birds, and 16 different bird species were found infested. It was observed that larval infestation was positively correlated with the dry and cold season, while nymphal infestation was positively correlated with the warm and rainy season. Although only 2-years worth of data is provided, our results suggest the infestation of birds by ticks was significantly higher at the biotopes formed by forest at its first stage of regeneration 'capoeira' and the original Araucaria forest habitat 'mata' than the ecotone between forest and urban areas 'peripheral area'.

Ticks infesting birds in Atlantic Forest fragments in Rio Claro, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

“…Birds of the genus Turdus were previously reported to be important for the life cycle of several tick species, once they live in low forest stratum and are commonly found on the ground (ROJAS et al, 1999;ARZUA et al, 2003;VENZAL et al, 2005). In this study, we observed this bird genus parasitized by Amblyomma larvae, and nymphs of A. calcaratum and A. longirostre, with high prevalence and mean intensity.…”

Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) infesting wild birds in the eastern Amazon, northern Brazil, with notes on rickettsial infection in ticks

“…Among 61 tick species reported in Brazil (Dantas-Torres et al 2009), 18 species from five genera have been reported parasitizing wild birds in different biomes other than the Amazon rainforest (Aragão 1911(Aragão , 1936Arzua et al 2003Arzua et al , 2005Arzua and BarrosBattesti 1999;Barros-Battesti et al 2003;Evans et al 2000;Labruna et al 2007a;Ogrzewalska et al 2008Ogrzewalska et al , 2009Szabó et al 2008;Terrassini et al 2006). The Amazon biome is the largest rainforest of the world, with most of its extension (4,900,000 km 2 ) in northern Brazil.…”

Serosurvey of Rickettsia spp. in dogs and humans from an endemic area for Brazilian spotted fever in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

“…The few available records of natural hosts for sub-adults of A. aureolatum have included mostly a few bird and rodent species 9,10,11,12 . Meanwhile, it has been reported that A. aureolatum adult ticks feed mainly on dogs in rural areas close to remnants of rainforest 11,13,14 .…”