Association patterns of ticks (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae, Argasidae) of small mammals in Cerrado fragments, western Brazil

Abstract

The present study describes ticks associated with small mammals and analyzes the aggregation patterns according to seasonal and host variations in the Cerrado biome, central-western Brazil. Small mammals were systematically captured in 54 woodland fragments from February 2012 to July 2013. A total of 1,040 animals belonging to eight marsupial and 12 rodent species were captured; 265 animals were parasitized by eight tick species (in decreasing order of abundance): Ornithodoros mimon, Amblyomma coelebs, Amblyomma sculptum, Amblyomma ovale, Amblyomma parvum, Amblyomma dubitatum, Amblyomma parkeri, and Ixodes amarali. With few exceptions, collected ticks were larvae and nymphs. Among the more abundant animals, the marsupial Didelphis albiventris showed the highest tick prevalence (84.4 %), mean abundance (19.2), mean intensity (22.8), richness of ticks species (n = 7), and total abundance of ticks (n = 2,457). Amblyomma sculptum and O. mimon were the most generalist species, collected on four host species. Fifteen new tick-host associations are reported for the first time. Most ticks showed higher prevalence and mean intensity in the dry season, regardless of host species. Overall, tick prevalence and mean intensity of infestation were significantly associated with host gender. Finally, the importance of the large number of records of the argasid O. mimon is discussed.

Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) as ectoparasites of Brazilian wild birds and their association with rickettsial diseases

“…Larvae were found parasitizing small mammals from the order Didelphimorphia and Rodentia collected in woodland fragments of Cerrado in the Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil (SPONCHIADO et al, 2015). Recently, a few larvae were collected from wild Passeriformes birds in Mato Grosso .…”

“…Amblyomma coelebs Neumann, 1899 is established in the Neotropical and Nearctic regions MARTINS et al, 2011;MARTINS et al, 2014a;SPONCHIADO et al, 2015;WITTER et al, 2016), Didelphimorphia (LABRUNA et al, 2005a;SARAIVA et al, 2012;SPONCHIADO et al, 2015;WITTER et al, 2016), Cingulata (MARTINS et al, 2014a), Artiodactyla (LABRUNA et al, 2005a, Carnivora (LABRUNA et al, 2002a;2005b;MARTINS et al, 2011;WITTER et al, 2016) and on humans (LABRUNA et al, 2005a;GARCIA et al, 2015). Although few records of immature A.…”

Infestação por carrapatos Argasidae e Ixodidae em pequenos mamíferos silvestres da Estação Experimental Rafael Fernandes, Mossoró/RN

“…coletada em M. domestica tinha características morfológicas diferentes das encontradas em descrições para carrapatos Ornithodorinae da América. Devido ao estado completamente ingurgitado, a montagem em lâmina deste único exemplar de Ornithodoros permitiu apenas a obtenção das medidas do hipostômio, capitulum (Fig.4) (Horta et al 2011, Sponchiado et al 2015.…”

“…Sponchiado et al (2015) notificaram O. mimon em G. agilis. Horta et al (2011) Quanto a classificação das larvas de O. mimon por quetotaxia e morfometria, constatou-se que as características analisadas(forma da placa dorsal; fórmula dental apical, medial e basal do hipostômio; ápice do hipostômio; núme-ro de cerdas dorsais; dorsolaterais; ventrais; circuanais e do artículo I, II,III e IV dos palpos) foram iguais às descritas por Kohls et al (1969) e Barros-Battesti et al (2011).…”

“…Estes têm hábitos hematófagos, alimentando-se de uma grande variedade de vertebrados terrestres, incluindo seres humanos, animais domésticos e silvestres. Ainda podem ocasionar a estes últimos, doenças parasitárias que representam uma séria ameaça a sua população, uma vez que diminui a abundância dos mesmos em seu habitat (Mastropaolo et al 2014, Sponchiado et al 2015.…”