Parasitic Arthropods of Some Wild Rodents from Juréia-Itatins Ecological Station, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Vol. 97(7): 959-963, October 2002

David Eduardo Paolinetti Bossi, Arício Xavier Linhares/⁺, Helena de Godoy Bergallo*

Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Caixa Postal 6109, 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brasil *Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

A study of the associations between three species of rodents in the Atlantic forest and their parasitic arthropods was undertaken at the Juréia-Itatins Ecological Station, located in the State of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, from March 1989 to February 1990. Individuals of three species, Oryzomys russatus, Proechimys iheringi and Nectomys squamipes were captured and examined for ectoparasites. Eleven species of parasitic arthropods were found, including four species of insects and seven of Acari. Parasitism intensity, phenology, and rainfall were positively correlated with the abundance of the ectoparasites and their hosts. The most abundant host was O. russatus (Muridae: Sigmodontinae), and the most common parasite on it was the laelapid mite Gigantolaelaps oudemansi. The cuterebrid Metacuterebra apicalis caused myiasis in O. russatus. A mutualistic association between the staphylinid beetle Amblyopinus sp. and its host P. iheringi (Echimyidae) was observed. The few N. squamipes captured had small numbers of ectoparasites.

Key words: rodent ectoparasites - Acari - Diptera - Siphonaptera - Coleoptera - Atlantic rain forest - Brazil

Ectoparasitic arthropods that infest mammals are either insects or acarines (Kettle 1985). Some ectoparasites such as chewing and sucking lice are permanent, whereas most adult fleas and ticks are temporary (Kim 1985). Some ectoparasites are biological vectors of pathogenic organisms (viruses, bacteria, protozoans, and helminths) among their hosts (Kettle 1985).

Some studies that have examined ectoparasites of small mammals in the Brazilian Atlantic forest (Fonseca 1939a, Guimarães 1945, Linardi 1977, Linardi et. al 1984, 1987, 1991, Guitton et al. 1986, Barros & Baggio 1992, Bossi & Bergallo 1992, Barros et al. 1993, Carvalho et al. 2001) have included species inventories, taxonomic descriptions, and records of host-parasite associations. Others (Botelho et al. 1981, Barros-Battesti et al. 1998) have evaluated the ectoparasites-host associations. The objectives of the present study were to (1) describe the relationship between three Atlantic forest rodent species and their ectoparasites; (2) assess the degree of host ectoparasite specificity; and (3) examine the influence of rainfall on ectoparasite abundance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To the late Lindolpho R Guimarães for help with identification of the fleas, Ângelo P Prado for identification of the flies, Donald D Gettinger for identification of the laelapid mites, José Ramiro Botelho and Stephen Bennett for identification of the ticks and A Langguth, for identification of the hosts.

REFERENCES

Table I | Table II | Table III

Work supported by Fapesp, grant # 88/3649-4, Faep, grant # 519/88 and CNPq grant # 301372/95-0.

⁺Corresponding author. Fax: +55-19-3788.6282. E-mail: aricio@unicamp.br

Received 20 March 2002

Accepted 9 July 2002