Parasites of Domestic and Wild Animals in South Africa. XLVII. Ticks of Tortoises and Other Reptiles
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Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 73:215–227 (2006) Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLVII. Ticks of tortoises and other reptiles I.G. HORAK1, I.J. MCKAY2*, B.T. HENEN3, HELOISE HEYNE2, MARGARETHA D. HOFMEYR3 and A.L. DE VILLIERS4 ABSTRACT HORAK, I.G., MCKAY, I.J., HENEN, B.T., HEYNE, HELOISE, HOFMEYR, MARGARETHA D. & DE VIL LIERS, A.L. 2006. Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLVII. Ticks of tortoises and other reptiles. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 73:215–227 A total of 586 reptiles, belonging to 35 species and five subspecies, were examined in surveys aimed at determining the species spectrum and geographic distribution of ticks that infest them. Of these rep- tiles 509 were tortoises, 28 monitor or other lizards, and 49 snakes. Nine ixodid tick species, of which seven belonged to the genus Amblyomma, and one argasid tick, Ornithodoros compactus were re- covered. Seven of the ten tick species are parasites of reptiles. Amongst these seven species Am bly- omma marmoreum was most prevalent and numerous on leopard tortoises, Geochelone pardalis; Amblyomma nuttalli was present only on Bell’s hinged tortoises, Kinixys belliana; and most Amblyomma sylvaticum were collected from angulate tortoises, Chersina angulata. Amblyomma exornatum (for- merly Aponomma exornatum) was only recovered from monitor lizards, Varanus spp.; most Ambly- omma latum (formerly Aponomma latum) were from snakes; and a single nymph of Amblyomma trans versale (formerly Aponomma transversale) was collected from a southern African python, Python natalensis. All 30 Namaqualand speckled padloper tortoises, Homopus signatus signatus, examined were infested with O. compactus. The seasonal occurrence of A. sylvaticum and the geographic distribution of this tick and of A. mar- moreum, A. nuttalli, A. exornatum, A. latum and O. compactus are illustrated. Keywords: Amblyomma spp., argasid tick, geographic distribution, ixodid ticks, Ornithodoros com- pactus, reptiles, seasonality, snakes, tortoises, varanid lizards INTRODUCTION 1 Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Vet- erinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa, and Division of Parasitology, ARC-Onderstepoort Reptiles in southern Africa are hosts of several spe- Veterinary Institute, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa cies of ixodid ticks (Theiler 1962). The majority of 2 Division of Parasitology, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Insti- these ticks belong to the genus Amblyomma, of tute, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa. which nine species, including three species that be- * Dr McKay’s present address is: School of Geosciences, longed to the former genus Aponomma (now Ambly- University of Witwaters rand, Private Bag X3, Wits, 2050 omma), occur in South Africa (Walker 1991). Theiler South Africa (1943, 1945a, b) has published illustrations of Ambly- 3 Chelonian Biodiversity and Conservation - Southern Africa, omma sylvaticum and of the ornate and inornate De part ment of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Univer- sity of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535 Aponommas. The latter ticks have recently been South Africa placed in the genus Amblyomma and are now des- 4 Scientific Services, Western Cape Nature Conservation Board, ignated Amblyomma exornatum, Amblyomma latum Private Bag X5014, Stellenbosch, 7599 South Africa and Amblyomma transversale (Klompen, Dobson & Accepted for publication 12 April 2006—Editor Barker 2002). Theiler & Salisbury (1959) have illus- 215 Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLVII trated ticks of ‘the Amblyomma marmoreum group’, MATERIALS AND METHODS and colour illustrations of Amblyomma hebraeum The data for this communication are derived from and A. marmoreum have been published by Walker four surveys of ticks parasitizing tortoises and other & Olwage (1987). A single argasid species, Ornitho- reptiles. doros compactus infests tortoises in southern Africa, and has been illustrated by Walton (1962). Firstly a study conducted specifically on tortoises, chiefly in the southern provinces of South Africa, be- Theiler (1962) has listed the reptile species and the tween 1975 and 1981, during which all vis ible ticks localities in sub-Saharan Africa from which ticks of were collected, but no record was kept of the number the genera Amblyomma and Aponomma (now Am- of tortoises that were not infested. Sec ondly ticks bly omma) have been collected. Norval (1983, 1985) were collected from tortoises in the West ern and has recorded the hosts and mapped the localities at Northern Cape Provinces between 2000 and 2003 which Amblyomma nuttalli, A. marmoreum, A. exor- as part of a larger investigation on the biol ogy and natum, A. latum and A. transversale have been col- conservation of these animals. Again no record was lected in Zimbabwe. Walker & Schulz (1984) have kept of the number of tortoises that were not infested. recorded the numbers of A. hebraeum and A. mar- Thirdly from casual collections between 1981 and moreum collected from tortoises in the Addo Elephant 2005 from tortoises and other reptiles, and finally National Park, Eastern Cape Province, and Dower, studies on 23 leopard tortoises conducted by Dower Petney & Horak (1988) those collected from leopard et al. (1988) and Horak & Boomker (1998) have been tortoises in the Andries Vosloo Kudu Reserve and in included for completeness’ sake. The vast majority the Thomas Baines Nature Reserve, Eastern Cape of collections were made from free-living reptiles, Province. The seasonality of A. marmoreum on leo- with a few made from captive animals. With the ex- pard tortoises in the National Zoological Gardens, ception of the study by Dower et al. (1988), in which Pre toria, Gauteng Province has been determined ticks were recovered after detaching from caged, by Rechav & Fielden (1995), and the hosts, season- naturally infested tortoises, ticks were collected man- ality and geographic distribution of the latter tick in ually, or by means of pincers, and preserved in 70 % South Africa have been recorded and illustrated by ethyl alcohol for subsequent identification and count- Horak, McKay, Heyne & Spickett (2006). Walton ing. The collections made by Dower et al. (1988) (1962) has listed the tortoise species from which O. were exhaustive, while the others concentrated on compactus has been collected. collecting only the visible and hence more easily ac- With the exception of A. hebraeum and O. compac- cessible ticks. The parasite host tables that follow tus, the above-mentioned ticks have all been re- list the total number of tortoises and other reptiles of corded on reptiles imported into the United States of each species that were infested irrespective of the Amer ica (USA) from Africa (Burridge, Simmons & tick species and the numbers of animals that were Allan 2000; Burridge 2001; Burridge & Simmons infested with particular species. The localities at 2003). This illus trates not only the close association which ticks were collected were recorded and their between the ticks and their hosts, but their prolonged geographic coordinates determined and plotted. periods of attachment, which exceed the length of The results of the collections pertaining to A. mar- time from the capture of the reptile in Africa, its trans- moreum have been reported separately (Horak et location to a foreign country and its legal or illegal al. 2006) and, with the exception of the tick-host ta- importation into that country. Amblyomma marmor- ble and geographic distribution map, to which new eum has in fact adapted to its new habitat and be- data have been added, they are not repeated here. come estab lished at a reptile breeding facility in Flor- Large numbers of all stages of development of A. ida in the USA (Allan, Simmons & Burridge 1998). sylvaticum were collected from angulate tortoises According to Walton (1962) the O. compactus re- during the course of the surveys, and the mean num- corded in European zoological gardens, probably bers recovered each month, irrespective of the year, arrived there as first stage nymphs on imported tor- have been used to determine the seasonal occur- toises. rence of this tick on these animals. The maps illus- The purpose of this paper is to record the species trating the geographic distributions of the various tick spectrum of ticks that infest tortoises and various species have been compiled from the coordinates other reptiles in South Africa, and to illustrate the of localities listed by Theiler (1962), as well as from seasonality and geographic distributions of those those at which ticks were collected in the surveys species for which sufficient data exist. reported here. 216 I.G. HORAK et al. We have used Branch (1998) as our primary source or ‘monitor lizard’ by the collectors and are listed as of reference for the specific and common names of such in the tables. the tortoise and other reptile species examined. These have been listed in the tables and the scien- tific names will not be repeated in the text. Whenever RESULTS AND DISCUSSION we have been uncertain of the sub-specific identity Amblyomma hebraeum of a particular tortoise we have used the geographic distribution maps plotted by Branch (1998), or the The hosts of adult A. hebraeum are large herbivo- habitat preferences of the various sub-species of rous mammals, whereas the larvae and nymphs can tent tortoises (Branch 1989), and the field experi- be found on a variety of large and small mammals ence of B.T.H. and