Introduction of the exotic tickAmblyomma helvolumKoch (Acari: Ixodidae) into the United States on imported cobras (Squamata: Elapidae)

An instance of Boiga dendrophila dendrophila (Boie, 1827) (Reptilia: Colubridae) being parasitized by Amblyomma helvolum Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae), with comments about the attachment sites of this tick species

“…Attachment site preferences may vary in both lizards and snakes. Thus, Chao et al (2013) reported an instance similar to ours, where three A. helvolum females were attached to the dorsal neck area (posterior to the head) of a king rat snake, Elaphe carinata (Günther, 1864), whereas Simmons et al (2002) recorded 21 A. helvolum males that were attached along the dorsal and lateral surfaces of three king cobras, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836).…”

Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of three Timor-Leste reptiles: first country record of Amblyomma helvolum, with new interactions and an updated list of host species

“…There are three records of the introduction of A. helvolum into the United States through imported snakes from Thailand and Indonesia (USDA, 1971;Clark and Doten, 1995;Simmons et al, 2002;Keirans and Durden, 2001;Burridge and Simmons, 2003), but there is no evidence that this tick has become established there (Guglielmone et al, 2014). The tick fauna of Timor-Leste was inventoried for the first time during a parasitological survey in 1973, but A. helvolum was not found (Dias, 1988).…”

“…A bibliographic search was conducted using Google Scholar to update the list of Simmons et al (2002) of A. helvolum hosts. The search terms used were: "Amblyomma helvolum", "amphibians", "reptiles", "lizards", "snakes", "turtles", "birds", and "mammals".…”

“…Country abbreviations include China (CHN), Indonesia (IDN), India (IND), Laos (LAO), Malaysia (MYS), the Philippines (PHL), Singapore (SGP), Taiwan (TWN), Thailand (THA), Timor-Leste (TLS), and Vietnam (VNM). Species names with an asterisk (*) are those species listed as hosts of A. helvolum by Simmons et al (2002).…”

Three instances of reptile ticks parasitising humans

“…For instance, Amblyomma longirostre (Koch, 1844) has only been recorded to parasitize birds during the larval stage, but nymphs will also infest some mammals, and adults primarily parasitize particular rodent species (Nava et al, 2010). Several species tend to parasitize only certain vertebrate classes or orders such as Amblyomma helvolum Koch, 1844, which only exploit reptiles (Simmons et al, 2002). Others are very host specific and usually will only parasitize one or a small number of similar host species.…”