Abstract
Ticks are important ectoparasites and can transmit a wide variety of pathogens to animals and humans worldwide. These ectoparasites are the most important vectors of diseases causing pathogens in domestic and wild animals, and the second for man. In Brazil, Spotted Fever is the only disease transmitted to humans by ticks, while for animals we can highlight babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. Although ticks are found in all of Brazil’s biomes, little is known about its diversity and host-relations in the Amazon biome. The existing gaps and the lack of research indicate that the diversity of ticks and their possible pathogens are underestimated in the Brazilian Amazon. Therefore, in order to guide the next studies in the Amazon biome, we present in this chapter a compilation of the records of hard ticks and soft ticks parasitizing wild and domestic animals, and humans. We present the general list of ticks for this biome, their distribution, hosts and importance for public health and veterinary. Finally, the ixodofauna found in the Brazilian Amazon and presented here does not match the vertebrate diversity of this biome, which is one of the largest on the planet. Therefore, more acarologists and epidemiologists are needed in this region.
Highlights
The Amazon or Amazon Rainforest is the largest remnant of tropical forest in the world, occupying a region of approximately 6.7 million/km2, covering nine countries in South America: Ecuador, Suriname, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil (Figure 1) [1, 2]
There are a variety of studies of parasitism by ticks on animals and humans in the different ecoregions of Brazil, in the Amazon biome they are scarce and fragmented
It is possible to infer that the diversity of ticks in the Brazilian Amazon is underestimated
Summary
The Amazon or Amazon Rainforest is the largest remnant of tropical forest in the world, occupying a region of approximately 6.7 million/km, covering nine countries in South America: Ecuador (ffi 2%), Suriname (ffi 2%), Bolivia (ffi 4%), Venezuela (ffi 4%), Guyana (ffi 3%), French Guiana (ffi 2%), Colombia (ffi 10%), Peru (ffi 13%), and Brazil (ffi 60%) (Figure 1) [1, 2]. The Brazilian Amazon is known for its high richness of landscapes composed of 23 ecoregions, whose main domain is the humid rainforest (ffi 78%). Due to this heterogeneity, the Amazon has an immeasurable amount of essential habitats for the maintenance of flora and fauna, represented. With high biological diversity, which is regarded as the largest in the world [3, 4] The Amazon has approximately 45,000 species of flora (39,474 species) and fauna (5,526 species) [2, 5] Even with this expressive diversity and the numerous faunal studies carried out in the region, there are still many gaps in the biological diversity of the Amazon. A review on the subject is necessary to point out the existing gaps and encourage new studies on ticks in the Brazilian Amazon
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