Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) identified from prey–predator interactions via faecal analysis of Brazilian wild carnivores

Abstract

Between July 2008 and May 2010, we conducted a trophic study on 12 Brazilian wild carnivore species through their faecal analysis in a silvicultural landscape at Angatuba municipality, southern São Paulo state. Predator faeces was identified by morphology, predator hair, and surrounding tracks; prey remnants within faeces were used for morphological identification of the prey. Among the recovered ectoparasites, there were 89 specimens of six tick species in 21 (4.0%) out of 523 analysed samples. Ticks were identified to species level, based on external morphological characters, as following: adults of Amblyomma ovale and Amblyomma sculptum; nymphs of Amblyomma brasiliense, Amblyomma calcaratum, Amblyomma dubitatum, A. ovale, and Ixodes schulzei; and larvae of Amblyomma sp. and Ixodes sp. Generally, the recovered immature ticks were associated with consumed prey (small birds or small mammals), whereas adults were associated with the predator itself, ingested during its self-grooming. Our data show that faeces is an additional information source on ticks in Brazil and which may provide information on ectoparasite-predator-prey interactions.

Epidemiology ofRickettsiaspp. in Atlantic rainforest areas of island and seashore mainland, southern Brazil

“…As the second most important rickettsial agent of Brazil (Faccini‐Martínez, Krawczak, Oliveira, Labruna, & Angerami, 2021), R. parkeri has been primarily transmitted to human beings by Ixodid ticks, including Amblyomma ovale in the Atlantic rainforest biome (Krawczak, Agostinho, Polo, Moraes‐Filho, & Labruna, 2016). Small rodents and wild birds have been recognized as primary hosts of A. ovale larval and nymphal (Labruna et al., 2005), and wild carnivores of A. ovale adults (Martins et al., 2015). Amblyomma ovale is also a anthropophilic tick throughout South America (Guglielmone et al., 2006), and human cases of R. parkeri strain Atlantic rainforest infection have been associated to mild febrile disease, characteristic inoculation eschar and nonspecific signs, such as headache, myalgia and regional lymphadenopathy, which generally do not require hospitalization (Faccini‐Martínez, Vilges De Oliveira, Junior, & Labruna, 2018).…”