Survey of Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) and Their Rickettsia in an AtlanticRain Forest Reserve in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated the occurrence of ticks and their rickettsiae in the Serrado Mar State Park, which encompasses one of the largest Atlantic rain forest reserves of Brazil. FromJuly 2008 to June 2009, a total of 2,439 ticks (2,196 free living and 243 collected on hosts) was collected,encompassing the following 13 speciesAmblyomma aureolatum(Pallas),Amblyomma brasilienseAraga˜o,Amblyomma dubitatum Neumann, Amblyomma fuscum Neumann, Amblyomma incisum Neumann, Amblyomma longirostre (Koch), Amblyomma naponense (Packard), Amblyomma nodosumNeumann, Amblyomma ovale Koch, Haemaphysalis juxtakochi Cooley, Ixodes aragaoi Fonseca,Ixodesloricatus Neumann, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus(Latreille). Ticks were submitted to polymerasechain reaction assays targeting portions of the rickettsial genes gltA and ompA.Polymerase chainreaction products were DNA sequenced and compared with corresponding sequences available inGen Bank. Rickettsia bellii, a rickettsia of unknown pathogenicity, was detected in one A. aureolatum,one A. ovale, and three A. incisum specimens...