Wildlife as important hosts of ticks in the flooded savanna of Colombia

Abstract

Records of wild animals acting as tick hosts in the flooded savanna region of Colombia’s Orinoquia are scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and map the ticks that infest these hosts. Ten locations were sampled in the municipality of Arauca, department of Arauca, Colombia, where ticks were collected infesting 19 wild animals, classified into 14 species, providing new information on tick infestation in the following taxa: (i) bird: Crax daubentoni, (ii) mammals: Dasypus sabanicola, Dicotyles tajacu, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, Leopardus tigrinus, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Odocoileus virginianus, Procyon cancrivorus, Urocyon cinereoargenteus and Tamandua tetradactyla, and (iii) reptiles: Boa constrictor, Chelonoidis denticulata, Eunectes murinus and Iguana iguana. A total of 85 ticks were identified and classified as the species Amblyomma mixtum, corresponding to 72.8%, followed by Amblyomma dissimile – 11.7%, Rhipicephalus microplus – 8.2%, Dermacentor nitens – 4.7%, and Amblyomma nodosum – 2.3%. Amblyomma mixtum was the tick species that showed the highest variety of infestations to hosts, parasitizing 53.8%. The host infested with the greatest variety of tick species was Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, from which Amblyomma mixtum and Dermacentor nitens were removed. The diversity and wide distribution of these wild animals make them potential tick hosts of medical and veterinary importance, given the close environmental, cultural, and economic interaction that has developed between wild and domestic animals, ticks, pathogens, and humans.