DOCSLIB.ORG

Observations on Antricola Ticks: Small Nymphs Feed on Mammalian Hosts and Have a Salivary Gland Structure Similar to Ixodid Ticks

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Observations on Antricola Ticks: Small Nymphs Feed on Mammalian Hosts and Have a Salivary Gland Structure Similar to Ixodid Ticks Universidade de São Paulo Biblioteca Digital da Produção Intelectual - BDPI Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Prevenção e Saúde Animal Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - FMVZ/VPS - FMVZ/VPS 2008 Observations on Antricola ticks: small Nymphs feed on mammalian hosts and have a salivary gland structure similar to Ixodid ticks Journal of Parasitology, Lancaster, v. 94, n. 4, p. 953-955, 2008 http://producao.usp.br/handle/BDPI/2098 Downloaded from: Biblioteca Digital da Produção Intelectual - BDPI, Universidade de São Paulo J. Parasitol., 94(4), 2008, pp. 953–955 ᭧ American Society of Parasitologists 2008 Observations on Antricola Ticks: Small Nymphs Feed on Mammalian Hosts and Have a Salivary Gland Structure Similar to Ixodid Ticks A. Estrada-Pen˜ a, J. M. Venzal*, Katherine M. Kocan†, C. Tramuta‡, L. Tomassone‡, J. de la Fuente†§, and M. Labruna࿣ Department of Parasitology, Veterinary Faculty, Miguel Servet 177, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; *Department of Parasitology, Veterinary Faculty, Av. Alberto Lasplaces 1620, CP 11600 Montevideo, Uruguay; †Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078 U.S.A.; ‡Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia, Ecologia, Facolta` di Medicina Veterinaria, Universita` degli Studi di Torino, Via Leonardo da Vinci, 44, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy; §Instituto de Investigacio´n en Recursos Cinege´ticos IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain; ࿣Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, Veterinary Faculty, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT: Ticks use bloodmeals as a source of nutrients and energy has been identified as the nutrient that supports tick survival until the to molt and survive until the next meal and to oviposit, in the case of parasite obtains a blood meal (Chinzei and Yano, 1985). Nymphal An- females. However, only the larvae of some tick species are known to tricola spp. have never been found attached to bats and, therefore, it is feed upon bats; females are obligatorily autogenous, and nymphal stages not understood how a single blood meal of the larva could provide are believed to not feed. We investigated the presence of blood in a energy for several nymphal molts as well as for oviposition by females. natural population of nymphal Antricola delacruzi ticks collected from Some have speculated that these stages could feed upon an unknown bat guano; their ability to feed upon laboratory hosts; and the micro- food source in bat guano (De la Cruz and Estrada-Pen˜a, 1995). scopic structure of both salivary glands and gut. DNA amplification of In this paper, we report detection of blood in freshly collected early gut contents of freshly collected material was positive for a mammal in nymphal stages of Antricola spp., as well as the experimental feeding 4 of 11 first instar nymphs, but we were unsuccesful in the amplification of these stages on laboratory-housed rabbits. We also present a brief of host bloodmeal DNA from late instar nymphs. All early nymphal light microscopic description of the salivary glands and gut of all post- stages (n ϭ 10) fed on rabbits, and host DNA was detected and se- larval stages of Antricola spp., thus providing a comparison of these quenced from gut contents. However, all the large nymphs (n ϭ 10) organs with both a South American Carios species and with morpho- rejected feeding, and host DNA remained undetected in these ticks. All logic studies of Argas vulgaris published previously. Specimens of An- stages of A. delacruzi have salivary glands similar in morphology to tricola delacruzi Estrada-Pen˜a, Venzal, and Battesti were collected in a the ixodid agranular Type I salivary gland acini and to granular Type cave located within the Porto Velho municipality (Rondonia State, Bra- II or Type B acini. All stages of A. delacruzi had a similar gut structure, zil) in November 2005. Until used for these studies, the ticks were kept consisting of digestive cells in the basal portion that contained hematin alive at 30 C, in complete darkness, in guano collected from the cave. granules. Neither regenerative nor secretory cell traces were observed Eleven early, and 6 late, nymphal specimens were used for detection of in the sections of gut. host blood by DNA amplification. Ten specimens of early and late nymphs were dissected, using a stereomicroscope, and fixed and pro- cessed for microscopy studies. In addition, another group of 10 early Cooley and Kohls (1944) erected Antricola to include Antricola co- and 10 late nymphs were allowed to feed in a capsule over a shaved prophilus (McIntosh), a species described originally within Ornitho- area of skin on the back of a white giant New Zealand rabbit. The doros. Antricola is a homogeneous assemblage of 17 tick species sup- rabbit was maintained and housed in accordance with the Institutional posedly restricted to the United States and Caribbean Islands. Some Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines. recently described species, however, greatly expanded its distribution For DNA extraction, individual ticks were homogenized with a pestle range into Brazil (Estrada-Pen˜a et al., 2004). in a microcentrifuge tube. DNA was extracted using the DNeasy tissue The systematic position of Antricola species is still doubtful. Some au- thors conducted phylogenetic analyses at major generic and subgeneric lev- els within the Argasidae and proposed a number of modifications to the classification of the family (Klompen, 1992; Klompen and Oliver, 1993). The genus Carios Latreille, 1796, was raised from Argas (Carios) and included in the Ornithodorinae Pospelova-Shtrom, 1946. Several of the recognized groupings within Carios (Reticulinasus, Nothoaspis, Antricola, Carios) appeared to be monophyletic, but recognition of the groupings as subgenera would create a proliferation of poorly supported subgenera or genera. Klompen and Oliver (1993) concluded that more detailed studies were required to evaluate the relationships within Carios spp. These phy- logenetic analyses, together with partial 16S rRNA sequences, provided valuable insight into the evolution of Argasidae. While we adhere to the existence of Carios as a taxonomic assemblage, we prefer to retain the denomination of Antricola as separate from that genus until more detailed data becomes available, data that would allow for greater confidence about its classification within this group. Of relevance to these concerns is the feeding pattern of some species. Larvae of some Ornithodoros species do not feed, while the larva is the only stage of Antricola spp. collected on hosts. Moreover, Antricola spp. adults have non-functional mouthparts resembling primitive me- sostigmatid-type chelicera and, therefore, most likely do not feed (Ol- iver, 1989). These dentate chelicera also appear in late, but not in early, nymphal stages of Antricola spp. Antricola spp. adults and nymphs inhabit bat-occupied caves and live on bat guano on the cave floor. Ornithodorinae have a variable number of nymphal stages. As we still do not know how many nymphal stages exist in Antricola, we herein designate ‘‘early’’ (or small) nymphs to the first stages and ‘‘late’’ (or large), which are close to the adult morphology and size, to the final stages. As reported by Oliver (1989), species of Antricola, together with FIGURE 1. Longitudinal sections of early (A) and late (B) Antricola those of Otobius and probably the former Nothoaspis (now also con- delacruzi nymphal stages after feeding on laboratory rabbits. Blood is sidered within Carios), are truly obligatory autogenous ticks. Vitellin seen in the gut of early nymphs (arrows). 953 954 THE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY, VOL. 94, NO. 4, AUGUST 2008 FIGURE 2. Light photomicrographs of salivary glands of early (A) and late (B) nymphs and an adult female (C)ofAntricola delacruzi. Type I agranular cells (black arrow) and Type II granular cells (white FIGURE 3. Light photomicrographs of cross section of salivary arrow) are observed in the 3 stages. Mallory’s stain, ϫ100 (A and B) glands from a Carios puertoricensis nymph (A) that contains both Type and ϫ400 (C). I and Type II salivary gland acini. Salivary glands from a female tick contains (B) agranular Type I acinus and (C) granular Type II or B acini. Mallory’s stain, ϫ100. kit (QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden, Germany). Vertebrate DNA in the tick gut was identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the uni- versal primers 0033 and 0049 designed to amplify a 150 bp fragment guano. Sequence analysis of PCR products showed poor homology with in mammal species, and a 120 bp fragment in bird species of the 18S sequences in GenBank and, therefore, was tentatively identified as rDNA gene, as described by Pichon et al. (2003). As positive controls, mammalian because it was positive to the specific probe. No DNA was we used DNA from Mus musculus and Bos taurus. Amplicons were detected in late instars A. delacruzi nymphs collected on bat guano. The purified using the QIAquick PCR purification kit (QIAGEN GmbH). lack of detection of host DNA in 7 early nymphs may have resulted Sequencing of PCR products was performed using PCR-derived primers from the amount of time between tick feeding and DNA amplification. in an ABI Prism 310 Genetic Analyser (Applied Biosistems, Milan, The possibility remains that the DNA detected was from the larval Italy). The sequences obtained were analyzed with the software CHRO- bloodmeal. Studies conducted by Pichon et al. (2003), using I. ricinus MAS 2.0 (Technelysium, Helensvale, Australia) and submitted to nymphs kept under natural field conditions in Ireland (average temper- BLAST analysis (BLAST௡, NCBI, Bethesda, Maryland; Altschul et al., ature of 10 C), show that possibilities to detect host DNA drop to 40% 1997). Sequences were then aligned using ClustalW multiple-alignment after 7 mo. However, the temperature in the caves where A. delacruzi software provided in the BioEdit package, version 7.0.5.2 (BioEdit, were collected remains constant around 35 C.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ixodida: Argasidae) En México
    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Facultad de Estudios Superiores – Zaragoza Diferenciación morfológica y molecular de garrapatas del género Antricola (Ixodida: Argasidae) en México. TESIS Que para obtener el título de: BIÓLOGO Presenta: Jesús Alberto Lugo Aldana Directora de tesis: Dra. María del Carmen Guzmán Cornejo Asesor interno: Dr. David Nahum Espinosa Organista México, D. F. Abril 2013 Facultad de Estudios Superiores Zaragoza, UNAM. *** Laboratorio de Acarología “Anita Hoffman” Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM. Dedicatoria A mi esposa Diana Sánchez y mi pequeña princesa Quetzalli por ser el motivo, para ser mejor día con día. A mi mamá Sara H. Aldana G. y mi papá Jesús G. Lugo C. por enseñarme los valores que hoy me hacen ser una gran persona, además de ser el ejemplo para superarme todos los días. A mi hermana Mitzi Saraí y hermano José Luis por su apoyo incondicional, que además de ser inspiración, lograron alentarme en todo momento para concluir este gran proyecto. A la familia Aldana Sánchez, Aldana Godínez, Del Moral Aldana, Lugo Cid, Lugo Romero, Lugo Maldonado y a la Sra. Irene Cabrera R., por todos sus consejos y apoyo incondicional a lo largo de toda mi carrera. Mil gracias… Agradecimientos o A mi alma mater U.N.A.M., por darme la oportunidad de ser parte de ésta gran institución. o A la Facultad de Estudios Superiores Zaragoza, por brindarme los conocimientos esenciales en toda mi formación como biólogo. o A la Dra. Ma. Del Carmen Guzmán Cornejo, “Meli”, por todo su apoyo incondicional durante la realización de éste trabajo, ya que sin sus consejos, orientación, confianza y amistad no se hubieran alcanzado tantas satisfacciones.
    [Show full text]
  • IS Rickettsia Amblyommii ABLE to REGULATE LONG NON-CODING RNA EXPRESSION in Amblyomma Sculptum TICK? an in Silico APPROACH
    RAFAEL MAZIOLI BARCELOS IS Rickettsia amblyommii ABLE TO REGULATE LONG NON-CODING RNA EXPRESSION IN Amblyomma sculptum TICK? AN in silico APPROACH Tese apresentada à Universidade Federal de Viçosa, como parte das exigências do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica Aplicada, para obtenção do título de Doctor Scientiae. VIÇOSA MINAS GERAIS - BRASIL 2017 Ficha catalográfica preparada pela Biblioteca Central da Universidade Federal de Viçosa - Câmpus Viçosa T Barcelos, Rafael Mazioli, 1985- B242i Is Rickettsia amblyommii able to regulate long non-coding 2017 RNA expression in Amblyomma sculptum tick? : An in silico approach / Rafael Mazioli Barcelos. – Viçosa, MG, 2017. x, 41f. : il. (algumas color.) ; 29 cm. Orientador: Cláudio Lisias Mafra de Siqueira. Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Inclui bibliografia. 1. Carrapato. 2. Amblyomma sculptum. I. Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Departamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular. Programa de Pós-graduação em Bioquímica Aplicada. II. Título. CDD 22 ed. 595.429 “Ninguém é responsável pelo meu fracasso. Ninguém é responsável pela minha felicidade”. (Leandro Karnal) ii AGRADECIMENTOS Pela realização deste trabalho, gostaria de agradecer: ▪ À Deus, por ter guiado e abençoado todo o meu caminho até aqui; ▪ À minha mãe, Eliana, e ao meu pai, Geronimo, eternos amigos e companheiros responsáveis por toda a minha determinação, caráter e inspiração. Pelo apoio incondicional nos momentos difíceis durante a realização deste trabalho; ▪ Aos meus irmãos, Guilherme e Nathália, pelo apoio, torcida e amizade que levarei durante toda a minha vida. À minha linda afilhada Lara, um presente de Deus em minha vida; ▪ Ao Prof. Dr. Cláudio Mafra por ter proporcionado toda a infra-estrutura e orientação para a realização e conclusão deste trabalho; ▪ Aos amigo(a)s irmã(o)s Mari, Grazi, Cynhia, Natasha, Filippe, Michele por todo apoio, conselhos e ombro durante todo o processo desta fase.
    [Show full text]
  • Toxins-67579-Rd 1 Proofed-Supplementary
    Supplementary Information Table S1. Reviewed entries of transcriptome data based on salivary and venom gland samples available for venomous arthropod species. Public database of NCBI (SRA archive, TSA archive, dbEST and GenBank) were screened for venom gland derived EST or NGS data transcripts. Operated search-terms were “salivary gland”, “venom gland”, “poison gland”, “venom”, “poison sack”. Database Study Sample Total Species name Systematic status Experiment Title Study Title Instrument Submitter source Accession Accession Size, Mb Crustacea The First Venomous Crustacean Revealed by Transcriptomics and Functional Xibalbanus (former Remipedia, 454 GS FLX SRX282054 454 Venom gland Transcriptome Speleonectes Morphology: Remipede Venom Glands Express a Unique Toxin Cocktail vReumont, NHM London SRP026153 SRR857228 639 Speleonectes ) tulumensis Speleonectidae Titanium Dominated by Enzymes and a Neurotoxin, MBE 2014, 31 (1) Hexapoda Diptera Total RNA isolated from Aedes aegypti salivary gland Normalized cDNA Instituto de Quimica - Aedes aegypti Culicidae dbEST Verjovski-Almeida,S., Eiglmeier,K., El-Dorry,H. etal, unpublished , 2005 Sanger dideoxy dbEST: 21107 Sequences library Universidade de Sao Paulo Centro de Investigacion Anopheles albimanus Culicidae dbEST Adult female Anopheles albimanus salivary gland cDNA library EST survey of the Anopheles albimanus transcriptome, 2007, unpublished Sanger dideoxy Sobre Enfermedades dbEST: 801 Sequences Infeccionsas, Mexico The salivary gland transcriptome of the neotropical malaria vector National Institute of Allergy Anopheles darlingii Culicidae dbEST Anopheles darlingi reveals accelerated evolution o genes relevant to BMC Genomics 10 (1): 57 2009 Sanger dideoxy dbEST: 2576 Sequences and Infectious Diseases hematophagyf An insight into the sialomes of Psorophora albipes, Anopheles dirus and An. Illumina HiSeq Anopheles dirus Culicidae SRX309996 Adult female Anopheles dirus salivary glands NIAID SRP026153 SRS448457 9453.44 freeborni 2000 An insight into the sialomes of Psorophora albipes, Anopheles dirus and An.
    [Show full text]
  • Article New Records of Rare Ornithodoros (Acari: Argasidae
    Persian Journal of Acarology, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 127−135 Article New records of rare Ornithodoros (Acari: Argasidae) species in caves of the Brazilian Amazon Matheus Henrique-Simões1, Leopoldo Ferreira de Oliveira Bernardi2*, Maria Ogrzewalska3, Marcelo Bahia Labruna3 & Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira4 1 Graduate in Applied Ecology, Ecology Section/Biology Department, Federal University of Lavras, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, P.O.Box 3037, Zip Code, 37200-000; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Graduate in Applied Ecology, CAPES scholarship, Ecology Section/Biology Department, Federal University of Lavras, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, P.O.Box 3037, Zip Code, 37200-000;e-mail: [email protected] 3 Laboratory of Underground Ecology, Zoology Section/ Biology Department, Federal University of Lavras, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, P.O.Box 3037, Zip Code, 37200-000; e-mail:[email protected] 4 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo State, Brazil, Zip Code 05508-270; e-mail: [email protected] * Corresponding author Abstract The genus Ornithodoros is worldwide distributed and features 113 known species. However, some species are rare and collections are scarce. The present paper expands the known distribution of two species of soft ticks, O. rondoniensis and O. marinkellei, by about 1400 km to the east, in caves in two municipal districts in the state of Pará, northern Brazil. These species were previously known only from the western Brazilian Amazon. Furthermore, some morphological details and molecular analysis are shown. Key words: Acari, Ixodida, Argasidae, cave, new records Introduction Cave environments present a series of rather peculiar characteristics, such as permanent absence of light far from the entrances, food scarcity, high humidity and nearly constant temperature (Culver 1982).
    [Show full text]
  • Edible Insects As a Source of Food Allergens Lee Palmer University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected]
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research in Food Food Science and Technology Department Science and Technology 12-2016 Edible Insects as a Source of Food Allergens Lee Palmer University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/foodscidiss Part of the Food Chemistry Commons, and the Other Food Science Commons Palmer, Lee, "Edible Insects as a Source of Food Allergens" (2016). Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research in Food Science and Technology. 78. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/foodscidiss/78 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Food Science and Technology Department at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research in Food Science and Technology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. EDIBLE INSECTS AS A SOURCE OF FOOD ALLERGENS by Lee Palmer A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Major: Food Science and Technology Under the Supervision of Professors Philip E. Johnson and Michael G. Zeece Lincoln, Nebraska December, 2016 EDIBLE INSECTS AS A SOURCE OF FOOD ALLERGENS Lee Palmer, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2016 Advisors: Philip E. Johnson and Michael G. Zeece Increasing global population increasingly limited by resources has spurred interest in novel food sources. Insects may be an alternative food source in the near future, but consideration of insects as a food requires scrutiny due to risk of allergens.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Title. 2 Development of Vaccines
    *Manuscript R1 1 1 1 2 2 Title. 3 3 Development of vaccines against Ornithodoros soft ticks: an update. 4 5 4 6 7 5 Authors 8 a a a a 9 6 Verónica Díaz-Martín , Raúl Manzano-Román , Prosper Obolo , Ana Oleaga , Ricardo Pérez- 10 7 Sánchez a,* . 11 12 8 13 14 9 15 16 10 uthor’saffiliations: 17 a 18 11 Parasitología Animal, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Salamanca (IRNASA, 19 12 CSIC), Cordel de Merinas, 40 -52, 37008 Salamanca, Spain. 20 21 13 22 23 14 uthor’se -mail address: 24 25 15 [email protected] ; [email protected] ; 26 16 [email protected] ; [email protected] ; 27 28 17 [email protected] 29 30 18 31 32 19 33 34 20 * Corresponding author: 35 21 Ricardo Pérez-Sánchez 36 37 22 Parasitología Animal, IRNASA, CSIC, 38 39 23 Cordel de Merinas, 40-52, 37008 Salamanca, Spain. 40 41 24 Tel.: +34 923219606; 42 25 fax: +34 923219609. 43 44 26 e-mail address: [email protected] 45 46 27 47 48 28 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 1 63 64 65 2 29 Abstract. 1 30 2 Ticks are parasites of great medical and veterinary importance since they are vectors 3 31 of numerous pathogens that affect humans, livestock and pets. Among the argasids, several 4 5 32 species of the genus Ornithodoros transmit serious diseases such as tick-borne human 6 7 33 relapsing fever (TBRF) and African Swine Fever (ASF).
    [Show full text]
  • 09 Jose Brites.Indd
    Veterinary World, EISSN: 2231-0916 REVIEW ARTICLE Available at www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.8/March-2015/9.pdf Open Access Tick-borne infections in human and animal population worldwide José Brites-Neto1, Keila Maria Roncato Duarte2 and Thiago Fernandes Martins3 1. Department of Public Health, Americana, São Paulo, Brazil; 2. Department of Genetics and Animal Reproduction, Institute of Animal Science, Nova Odessa, São Paulo, Brazil; 3. Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Corresponding author: José Brites-Neto, e-mail: [email protected], KMRD: [email protected], TFM: [email protected] Received: 14-11-2014, Revised: 20-01-2015, Accepted: 25-01-2015, Published online: 12-03-2015 doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2015.301-315. How to cite this article: Brites-Neto J, Duarte KMR, Martins TF (2015) Tick- borne infections in human and animal population worldwide, Veterinary World 8(3):301-315. Abstract The abundance and activity of ectoparasites and its hosts are affected by various abiotic factors, such as climate and other organisms (predators, pathogens and competitors) presenting thus multiples forms of association (obligate to facultative, permanent to intermittent and superficial to subcutaneous) developed during long co-evolving processes. Ticks are ectoparasites widespread globally and its eco epidemiology are closely related to the environmental conditions. They are obligatory hematophagous ectoparasites and responsible as vectors or reservoirs at the transmission of pathogenic fungi, protozoa, viruses, rickettsia and others bacteria during their feeding process on the hosts. Ticks constitute the second vector group that transmit the major number of pathogens to humans and play a role primary for animals in the process of diseases transmission.
    [Show full text]
  • Ticks of Florida
    Tick Identification Ticks of Florida: • A good tick key is needed – Google is making this easier, but beware of Google Image Basic Identification • Helpful to know – Where the tick was collected – From what animal – What time of year Phillip E. Kaufman Initial questions to ask: Entomology & Nematology Department 1. Is it a hard or soft tick? University of Florida a. Sometimes an engorged hard tick may appear as a soft tick 2. What is the life stage: larva, nymph or adult? a. Critical for use of most ID keys b. Unfed much easier to ID than engorged Metastigmata: Ticks Evolutionary Relationships between Ticks Ixodinae Ixodes (243 spp.) Amblyomminae Amblyomma (130 spp.) Characterized by… Prostriata Ixodidae Borthriocrotoninae Bothriocroton (7 spp.) 702 species • No distinct head Metastriata Haemaphysalinae Haemaphysalis (166 spp.) – mouthparts (palpi & hypostome) + basis capituli = capitulum (head-like structure) Hyalomminae Hyalomma (27 spp.) Nutalliellidae Nuttalliella (1 sp.) Nosomma (2 spp.) • 4 pairs of legs, except larvae (3 pr.) 1 species Argasinae -- Argas (61 spp.) Rhipicephalinae Dermacentor (34 spp.) • 1 pr. simple eyes, or eyeless Ornithodorinae -- Ornithodoros (112 spp.) Cosmiomma (1 spp.) Rhipicephalus (82 spp.) • Stigmata located behind the 4th pair of legs Otobinae -- Otobius (2 spp.) Argasidae Anomalohimalaya (3 spp.) • Scutum = plate that covers dorsum 193 species Antricolinae -- Antricola (17 spp.) Rhipicentor (2 spp.) – patterns, colors, and shape often species specific Margaropus (3 spp.) Nothoaspinae -- Nothoaspis (1
    [Show full text]
  • (Soft) Ticks (Acari: Parasitiformes: Argasidae) in Relation to Transmission of Human Pathogens
    International Journal of Vaccines and Vaccination Status of Argasid (Soft) Ticks (Acari: Parasitiformes: Argasidae) In Relation To Transmission of Human Pathogens Abstract Review Article Ticks transmit a greater variety of infectious agents than any other arthropod group, Volume 4 Issue 4 - 2017 in fact, these are second only to mosquitoes as carriers of human pathogens. This article concerns to the different ticks as vectors of parasites and their control methods having a major focus on vaccines against pathogens. Typically, argasids do not possess Department of Entomology, Nuclear Institute for Food & a dorsal shield or scutum, their capitulum is less prominent and ventrally instead Agriculture (NIFA), Pakistan anteriorly located, coxae are unarmed (without spurs), and spiracular plates small. A number of genera and species of ticks in the families Argasidae (soft ticks) are of public *Corresponding author: Muhammad Sarwar, Department health importance. Certain species of argasid ticks of the genera Argas, Ornithodoros, of Entomology, Nuclear Institute for Food & Agriculture Carios and Otobius are important in the transmission of many human’s pathogens. (NIFA), Pakistan, Email: Moreover, argasids have multi-host life cycles and two or more nymphal stages each requiring a blood meal from a host. Unlike the ixodid (hard) ticks, which stay attached Received: December 11, 2016 | Published: September 21, to their hosts for up to several days while feeding, most argasids are adapted to feed 2017 rapidly (for about an hour) and then dropping off the host. They transmit a variety of pathogens of medical and veterinary interest, including viruses, bacteria, rickettsiae, helminthes, and protozoans, all of which are able to cause damage to livestock production and human health.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Evolutionary Structural Variability
    Schwarz et al. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014, 14:4 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/14/4 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Understanding the evolutionary structural variability and target specificity of tick salivary Kunitz peptides using next generation transcriptome data Alexandra Schwarz, Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz, Jan Kopecký and James J Valdés* Abstract Background: Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods and a primary function of tick salivary proteins is to counteract the host’s immune response. Tick salivary Kunitz-domain proteins perform multiple functions within the feeding lesion and have been classified as venoms; thereby, constituting them as one of the important elements in the arms race with the host. The two main mechanisms advocated to explain the functional heterogeneity of tick salivary Kunitz-domain proteins are gene sharing and gene duplication. Both do not, however, elucidate the evolution of the Kunitz family in ticks from a structural dynamic point of view. The Red Queen hypothesis offers a fruitful theoretical framework to give a dynamic explanation for host-parasite interactions. Using the recent salivary gland Ixodes ricinus transcriptome we analyze, for the first time, single Kunitz-domain encoding transcripts by means of computational, structural bioinformatics and phylogenetic approaches to improve our understanding of the structural evolution of this important multigenic protein family. Results: Organizing the I. ricinus single Kunitz-domain peptides based on their cysteine motif allowed us to specify a putative target and to relate this target specificity to Illumina transcript reads during tick feeding. We observe that several of these Kunitz peptide groups vary in their translated amino acid sequence, secondary structure, antigenicity, and intrinsic disorder, and that the majority of these groups are subject to a purifying (negative) selection.
    [Show full text]
  • (Acari: Ixodida) from Bat Caves in Brazilian Amazon Author(S): Santiago Nava, Jose M
    Description of a New Argasid Tick (Acari: Ixodida) from Bat Caves in Brazilian Amazon Author(s): Santiago Nava, Jose M. Venzal, Flavio A. Terassini, Atilio J. Mangold, Luis Marcelo A. Camargo, and Marcelo B. Labruna Source: Journal of Parasitology, 96(6):1089-1101. 2010. Published By: American Society of Parasitologists DOI: 10.1645/GE-2539.1 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1645/GE-2539.1 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is an electronic aggregator of bioscience research content, and the online home to over 160 journals and books published by not-for-profit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. J. Parasitol., 96(6), 2010, pp. 1089–1101 F American Society of Parasitologists 2010 DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ARGASID TICK (ACARI: IXODIDA) FROM BAT CAVES IN BRAZILIAN AMAZON Santiago Nava, Jose M. Venzal*, Flavio A. TerassiniÀ, Atilio J. Mangold, Luis Marcelo A. CamargoÀ, and Marcelo B. Labruna` Instituto Nacional de Tecnologı´a Agropecuaria, Estacio´n Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela, CC 22, CP 2300 Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina.
    [Show full text]
  • Ticks Parasitizing Bats
    Original Article Braz. J. Vet. Parasitol., Jaboticabal, v. 25, n. 4, p. 484-491, out.-dez. 2016 ISSN 0103-846X (Print) / ISSN 1984-2961 (Electronic) Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1984-29612016083 Ticks parasitizing bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the Caatinga Biome, Brazil Carrapatos parasitando morcegos (Mammalia: Chiroptera) na Caatinga, Brasil Hermes Ribeiro Luz1; Sebastián Muñoz-Leal2*; Juliana Cardoso de Almeida1; João Luiz Horacio Faccini1; Marcelo Bahia Labruna2 1 Departamento de Parasitologia Animal, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro – UFRRJ, Seropédica, RJ, Brasil 2 Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo – USP, São Paulo, SP, Brasil Received September 27, 2016 Accepted October 31, 2016 Abstract In this paper, the authors report ticks parasitizing bats from the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve (RPPN) located in the municipality of Crateús, state of Ceará, in the semiarid Caatinga biome of northeastern Brazil. The study was carried out during nine nights in the dry season (July 2012) and 10 nights in the rainy season (February 2013). Only bats of the Phyllostomidae and Mormoopidae families were parasitized by ticks. The species Artibeus planirostris and Carolia perspicillata were the most parasitized. A total of 409 larvae were collected and classified into three genera: Antricola (n = 1), Nothoaspis (n = 1) and Ornithodoros (n = 407). Four species were morphologically identified as Nothoaspis amazoniensis, Ornithodoros cavernicolous, Ornithodoros fonsecai, Ornithodoros hasei, and Ornithodoros marinkellei. Ornithodoros hasei was the most common tick associated with bats in the current study. The present study expand the distributional ranges of at least three soft ticks into the Caatinga biome, and highlight an unexpected richness of argasid ticks inhabiting this arid ecosystem.
    [Show full text]