ABSTRACT
Ticks are important to public health due to diseases they transmit to animals and humans and, economic losses they cause to livestock production. Among other agents, such as Babesia, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, the Rickettsia are the most important pathogens transmitted by ticks in Brazil. Worldwide there are about 870 tick species described and, of these, 55 species were already reported in Brazil, being the genus Amblyomma the most numerous with 33 species. The A. cajennense is the principal tick involved in the transmission of the Brazilian Spotted Fever. New cases of the disease, in some regions of Brazil, have been associated with the increment of the capybara population, wild animal considered primary host for A. cajennense and A. dubitatum. The objectives of this work were to identify and study the population dynamic of free-living ticks species presents in the Arthur Thomas Municipal Park, where lives a group of capybaras, among other wild animals and birds. From August 2006 to July 2007, free-living nymph and adult tick stages were collected using carbon dioxide traps, and for larvae capture was used the technique of the dragging with white flannel. All the ticks captured were transported to the laboratory, fixed in ethanol, counted and identified by morphological criteria. The three stages of the genus Amblyomma spp were present all over the 12 months of the studied period. Larvae and nymphs were present in the park all over the year with population peaks in both semesters of the studied period. Adult of A. cajennense were more abundant on the ground of the park during the spring-summer months and, A. dubitatum presented populational peaks in September/ October, 2006 and July, 2007. Considering these data it can be concluded that visitors and people that work in the park are exposed to the ticks all over the year, with larger risk of attacks in the hottest months.
