First record of Amblyomma dissimile Koch 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) parasitizing a wild raptor, the Gray-lined Hawk Buteo nitidus (Latham 1790) (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae), Brazilian Amazon

Survey of bacterial and protozoan microorganisms in ticks collected from birds in the Atlantic Forest biome in Piraí municipality, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil</p >

“…Regarding the diversity of ticks infesting birds, the number of tick species collected from birds appears to be a good bioindicator, showing a tendency to have greater diversity in preserved areas (Ogrzewalska et al 2011;Sanches et al 2013;Luz et al 2017). As they are intermediate hosts, the infestation of some species of ticks by birds is directly linked to the presence of vertebrate hosts in their adult phase, especially mammals, reptiles, and amphibians (Allan, 2010;Sonenshine, 2013;Neves et al 2022). In addition, the low frequency of generalist tick species in the forest areas of this study, such as A. sculptum, which can parasitize several reservoir and amplifier disease hosts in degraded environments, also serves as a bioindicator of the health of the local ecosystem (Esser et al 2019).…”

“…The A. sculptum tick is the main vector of Brazilian spotted fever and is the commonly found species accidentally parasitizing humans in the Brazilian territory (Martins et al 2016). In this sense, the dispersal capacity of ticks increases with parasitism in birds; thus, places previously free of infected ticks can become at risk of causing disease to humans (Ogrzewalska et al 2016;Neves et al 2022). Although A. longirostre and A. parkeri are frequently reported, also because they are found in large proportions (Labruna et al 2007;Labruna et al 2009;Martins et al 2013), we found in this research unprecedented occurrences of parasitism, such as nymphs of A.…”

“…The A. sculptum tick is the main vector of Brazilian spotted fever and is the most commonly found species accidentally parasitizing humans in the Brazilian territory (Martins et al 2016). In this sense, the dispersal capacity of ticks increases with parasitism in birds; thus, places previously free of infected ticks can become at risk of causing disease to humans (Ogrzewalska et al 2016; Neves et al 2022).…”