Species occurrence of ticks in South America, and interactions with biotic and abiotic traits

Agustin Estrada-Peña,Octavio Merino,Matias Szabó,Ana Domingos,Evelina Tarragona,José De La Fuente,Santiago Nava,Sergio Bermúdez,Marcelo Labruna,Jose M Venzal,Juan Mosqueda,Alberto A Guglielmone

doi:10.1038/s41597-019-0314-0

Abstract

The datasets of records of the distribution of ticks and their hosts are invaluable tools to understand the phylogenetic patterns of evolution of ticks and the abiotic traits to which they are associated. Such datasets require an exhaustive collection of bibliographical references. In most cases, it is necessary the confirmation of reliable identification of ticks, together with an update of the scientific names of the vertebrate hosts. These data are not easily available, because many records were published in the so-called “grey literature”. Herein, we introduced the Dataset of Ticks in South America, a repository that collates data on 4,764 records of ticks (4,124 geo-referenced) with a special reference to an extra 2,370 records of ticks on cattle, together with a set of abiotic traits, curated from satellite-derived information over the complete target region. The dataset includes details of the phylogenetic relationships of the species of hosts, providing researchers with both biotic and abiotic traits that drive the distribution and evolution of ticks in South America.

Highlights

The ixodid ticks of South America are a clade of species that show taxonomic affinities with species reported to occur in the Tropical and the Palearctic-Nearctic fauna, with unique host-tick adaptations to the local vertebrate fauna[1]
We previously presented a novel framework that escalates from environmental traits to the relationships of a community of ticks and vertebrate hosts[6]
In this study we aimed to formulate a synthesis of the relationships linking the three corners of the triangle that supports the circulation of tick-transmitted pathogens in South America: the vertebrate hosts, the ticks, and the environmental traits

Summary

Introduction

The ixodid ticks of South America are a clade of species that show taxonomic affinities with species reported to occur in the Tropical and the Palearctic-Nearctic fauna, with unique host-tick adaptations to the local vertebrate fauna[1]. These relationships could be considered a consequence of the separation of land masses between Africa and South America in geological times and the invasive events that took place between the Nearctic and the Neotropical regions[2]. A complete dataset of environmental traits, bona fide records of ticks, accurate coordinates of the distributional data, and a complete and updated list of hosts, together with the complete set of literature references, is the requirement for a community approach to the study of the ixodid ticks in South America

Objectives

Methods