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

Namor Pinheiro Zimmermann,Thiago Fernandes Martins,Rodrigo Casquero Cunha,André De Abreu Rangel Aguirre,Vinicius Da Silva Rodrigues,Pamella Oliveira Duarte,Renato Andreotti,Breno Cayeiro Cruz,Isabella Maiumi Zaidan Blecha,Marcos Valério Garcia,Jansen Fernandes Medeiros

doi:10.1590/s1984-296120180022

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.

Highlights

The Rondônia state, located in the North Region of Brazil, possesses wide reserves of natural Amazon forest, as well as many degraded areas
A total of 127 ticks from the Amblyomma genus were collected from these animals, distributed among seven species: Amblyomma dissimile Koch, 1844, Amblyomma geayi Neumann, 1899, A. humerale, Amblyomma longirostre (Koch, 1844), Amblyomma nodosum Neumann, 1899, Amblyomma rotundatum Koch, 1884 and Amblyomma varium Koch, 1844
The present study reports, for the first time, the parasitism by A. rotundatum of R. major, U. superciliosus, L. ahaetulla, C. multiventris and M. boddaerti, as well as A. humerale parasitizing U. superciliosus, A. geayi parasitizing C. didactylus, and R. (B.) microplus parasitizing A. puruensis

Summary

Introduction

The Rondônia state, located in the North Region of Brazil, possesses wide reserves of natural Amazon forest, as well as many degraded areas. This state has been the focus of several tick-related studies, putting it in a prominent position since 34 (52%) of the 65 species in the country had already been catalogued here by 2014 (MARTINS et al, 2014). The Amblyomma sculptum Berlese, 1888 species was recently reported for the first time in Rondônia, bringing the total to 35 species in the state (MARTINS et al, 2016). Reports regarding Brazilian tick fauna in recent years have been gradually increasing for both the Ixodidae and Argasidae families. Brazil today has 71 tick species, with 46 belonging to the Ixodidae family and 25 belonging to the Argasidae family (MARTINS et al, 2014, 2016; BARROS-BATTESTI et al, 2015; KRAWCZAK et al, 2015; LABRUNA et al, 2016; WOLF et al, 2016; MUÑOZ‐LEAL et al 2017)

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