Wildlife species, Ixodid fauna and new host records for ticks in an Amazon forest area, Rondônia, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the diversity of ticks associated with free-living animals and to investigate new host records for ticks. Ticks were collected from animals rescued during the flood of the Jamari River in the municipality of Ariquemes, state of Rondônia, North Region of Brazil. A total of 39 animals were captured, out of which 10 were amphibians, 19 were reptiles and 10 were mammals. A total of 127 ticks of the Amblyomma genus were collected from these animals, distributed among seven species: Amblyomma dissimile, Amblyomma geayi, Amblyomma humerale , Amblyomma longirostre, Amblyomma nodosum , Amblyomma rotundatum and Amblyomma varium. In addition, one specimen of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus was collected. Among these specimens, 85 were adults and 42 were nymphs, with A. rotundatum being the most prevalent species. An Amblyomma spp. larvae was also collected from a lizard (Uranoscodon superciliosus), and one Amblyomma calcaratum and one Amblyomma dubitatum were recovered from the environment, thus totaling 130 ticks. Among the Ixodidae collected from different hosts, we provide the first report for the species A. rotundatum parasitizing Rhinella major, U. superciliosus, Leptophis ahaetulla, Chironius multiventris, and Mastigodryas boddaerti, as well as of A. humerale parasitizing U. superciliosus, A. geayi parasitizing Choloepus didactylus, and Rhipicephalus (B.) microplus parasitizing Alouatta puruensis.

Ticks and Associated Pathogens From Rescued Wild Animals in Rainforest Fragments of Northeastern Brazil

“…Infestation by A. nodosum in avians was previously described for different species (23,42,43). A. nodosum occurrence was described in Brazilian's Southeastern (44), Midwestern (40), Northern (25), and Northeastern region (30,43). An infestation by A. nodosum was found on T. tetradactyla in the state of Ceará (45) and on M. tridactyla and T. tetradactyla in the state of Pernambuco (30).…”

“…A previous evaluation of tick parasitism in snakes from a fragment of the Atlantic Forest showed A. rotundatum was the most prevalent, representing 99.1% of all ticks collected (29). However, other tick species, most frequently A. dissimile, are found infesting different snake species (23,25,31). Species from the Boidae family represented 50.1% of reptile species rescued in Salvador, Bahia, between 2012 and 2014 with B. constrictor making up 40.2% of these rescued reptile species.…”

“…In the state of Pernambuco in the Northeast region of Brazil, A. rotundatum seems to be the most prevalent tick species infesting reptiles (24). Various reptile species and toads belonging to the Rhinella genus in the Amazon were infested by A. rotundatum (25). In the state of Mato Grosso, three species of Rhinella, R. bergi, R. marina, and R. schneideri were infested with adults and nymphs of A. rotundatum and Amblyomma dissimile, with A. dissimile being the most frequent tick species found (23).…”

“…Adult A. varium display high host specificity, found almost exclusively in sloths from the Bradypodidae family, such as Bradypus tridactylus, Bradypus variegatus, B. torquatus (46). A. varium infestation has also been described in the Choloepus hoffmanni and Choloepus didactylus sloth species (25,46). Interestingly, in Colombia, A. varium was described to parasitize a domestic dog (47).…”

Ticks from the Brazilian Amazon: Species, Distribution and Host-Relations

“…According to Luz et al [29] 12 (54.5%) out of 22 Rhinella marina toads captured in Amapá state, were parasitized by a total of 97 ticks (6 males, 39 females, 31 nymphs, 21 larvae) and mean intensity of 8.1 ticks per infested toad. In the Amazonian biome, A. dissimile is common on R. marina (Anura) and Boidae (Squamata) ( Table 1) [32,33,36,37] Crotalus durissus 1M; 1F [34] Lachesis muta 1 [34] Elapidae Micrurus averyi 3F [31] Micrurus lemniscatus 12M; 9F [31] Colubridade Leptophis ahaetulla 3 [33] Chironius multiventris 3 [33] Chironius scurrulus 1M; 1F [34] Chironius laevicollis 12 15M; 6F [31] Mastigodryas boddaerti 1 [33] Hydrodynastes gigas 1 7F [30] Helicops polylepis 1 [34] Leptodeira annulata 1 [34] Phimophis guerini 1F [34] Erythrolamprus reginae 1 [34] Spilotes pullatus 72 42M; 9F [31] Erythrolamprus reginae semilineatus 1 [34] Dipsadidae Xenodon severus 8 [40] Testudinidae Chelonoidis denticulatus 3M 3 2M; 42F [31,41] Chelonoidis carbonaria 1 1M; 1F 11 [32,39] Podocnemididae Podocnemis expansa 1F [39] Podocnemis unifilis 1 [39] Trachemys dorbigni 2 12F [39] Kinosternidae Kinosternon scorpioides 2F [42] including pre-attachment periods for each parasitic stage lasts approximately 350 days, as reported by Schumaker et al [43] who started a colony from one engorged female collected from the Amazonian biome. Ogrzewalska et al [37] reported Rickettsia bellii and 'Candidatus Rickettsia colombianensi' in ticks collected from Bothrops atrox from Pará state.…”