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Tick fauna from two locations in the Brazilian savannah

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Abstract

The Cerrado is Brazil’s tropical savannah, which is arguably under greater threat than the Amazon rainforest. The Cerrado Biome of tropical South America covers about 2 million km2 and is considered a biodiversity hot spot which means that it is especially rich in endemic species and particularly threatened by human activities. The Cerrado is increasingly exposed to agricultural activities which enhance the likelihood of mixing parasites from rural, urban and wildlife areas. Information about ticks from the Cerrado biome is scarce. In this report tick species free-living, on domestic animals and on a few wild animals in two farms in the Cerrado biome (Nova Crixás and Araguapaz municipalities, Goiás State, Brazil) are described. Amblyomma cajennense was the first and Amblyomma parvum the second host-seeking tick species found. Only two other tick species were found free-living: one Amblyomma nodosum and three Amblyomma naponense nymphs. Cattle were infested with Boophilus microplus and A. cajennense. Buffalos were infested with B. microplus and A. parvum. Dogs were infested with A. cajennense, Amblyomma ovale, A. parvum and Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks. Anocentor nitens, B. microplus, A. cajennense, and A. parvum were found on horses. Amblyomma auricularium were found attached to nine-banded armadillos and Amblyomma rotundatum to red-footed tortoise, cururu toads and a rattlesnake. The latter was also infested with an adult A. cajennense. No tick was found on a goat, a tropical rat snake and a yellow armadillo. Among the observations the infestation of several domestic animals with A. parvum seems be the main feature. It suggests that this species might become a pest. However, the life cycle of A. parvum in nature, as well as its disease vectoring capacity, are largely unknown. It would be important to determine if it is a species expanding its geographic range by adaptation to new hosts or if it has been maintained in high numbers at definite locations by specific and still undetermined conditions. A higher prevalence of A. cajennense in most Brazilian biomes, with the exception of rainforests, was already shown before. Thus this species is favored by deforestation and is an important research target as it is the most common vector associated with the Brazilian spotted fever.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank to José Roberto Ferreira Alves for the permission to collect tick on his farms and also for his assistance during the field work. We are also grateful to Marcos Valério Garcia and Viviane Aparecida Veronez for their collaboration during field work. This research was supported by the Federal University of Uberlândia and CNPq (Academic Career Research Fellowship to M.P.J.S.).

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  1. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará, 1720, Campus Umuarama-Bloco 2T, Uberlandia, MG, CEP 38400-902, Brasil

    Matias Pablo Juan Szabó, Maria Marlene Martins Olegário & André Luiz Quagliatto Santos

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  1. Matias Pablo Juan Szabó
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  2. Maria Marlene Martins Olegário
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  3. André Luiz Quagliatto Santos
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Correspondence to Matias Pablo Juan Szabó.

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Szabó, M.P.J., Olegário, M.M.M. & Santos, A.L.Q. Tick fauna from two locations in the Brazilian savannah. Exp Appl Acarol 43, 73–84 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-007-9096-8

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