Prevalence of on-host ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in small mammals collected from forest near to human vicinity in Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Ticks are important vectors that transmit a variety of pathogenic microorganisms known to be medically important worldwide. Many vertebrate groups have become host to this organism, and their presence and abundance are an indicator of the condition of both host and its habitat. This study was conducted to determine tick’s infestation and its prevalence on small mammal’s residing in the recreational forests (RF) and semi-urban (SU) residential areas which have encountered Leptospirosis outbreak and cases in Hulu Langat, Selangor Malaysia. Trapping of the small mammals involved deploying two hundred cage traps in a systematic one-hectare plot (100 m x 100 m), as well as along the stream and forest trails at random. Ticks were extracted from the captured individual hosts. Identification of the tick species was performed based on morphological features and molecular approach using 16S rDNA and COI (cytochrome oxidase subunit I) genes. A total of 278 individuals of small mammals belonging to 15 species (13 Rodentia, 1 Scandentia and 1 Insectivora) were captured in the study areas. From these, 34 individuals from eight small mammal species were infested with ticks. The most infested host species was Muller’s giant Sunda rat (Sundamys muelleri) with 5.80% (n=16). Ticks prevalence was slightly higher in RF with 6.40% (n=18) compared to SU with 5.80% (n=16). A total of 107 adult ticks (103 female and 4 male) were collected from the infested host. Ixodes granulatus was the most dominant tick species encountered (70.40%, n=85), followed by Dermacentor sp. (18.60%, n=20), while Amblyomma sp. was the least abundant (2%, n=2). This study provides information on tick species present and tick burden on small mammal hosts within the study areas. Our findings suggest that the visitors to the recreational forests and the residents of the semi-urban area were not only exposed to Leptospirosis bacteria but also tick bites and potentially tick-borne disease, therefore, precaution should be taken to avoid contact with small mammal hosts.

Small mammal assemblages and their ectoparasite prevalence (Acarina) in mangrove forests of Peninsular Malaysia

“…Therefore, it may reveal higher ectoparasite infestation levels on female individuals host than male hosts. However, the findings contradicted the later studies of Kowalski et al (2015) and Ishak et al (2018b), where the infestation rate of ectoparasites on male hosts was higher than females of small mammals. Bantihun and Bekele (2015) reported that males often have a more extensive home range and can travel further, therefore, easily exposed to ectoparasites than females.…”

“…Unlike the four infested species that belong to the family Muridae, two species were not infested by any ectoparasites, namely T. glis and C. notatus from the families Tupaiidae and Sciuridae. Similar to Madinah et al (2014) and Ishak et al (2018b), these species exhibited a significantly low number of ectoparasite loads compared to Muridae. Rodents from the family Sciuridae are tree-top squirrel and spent most of the time on tree canopies, instead of on the ground (Thanee et al 2009).…”

“…All ticks from the genus Dermacentor are a likely vector to zoonotic diseases, such as the Lanjan virus (Karabatsos 1985). I. granulatus infested small mammals, especially rodents in Peninsular Malaysia (Ernieenor et al 2016;Madinah et al 2011;Ishak et al 2018b). The larvae or immature stages of A. cordiferum tick feed on small mammals (Barnard and Durden 2000), and this tick prefers to feed on ophidian hosts during the adult stage (Ho and Ismail 1984).…”

Differential Tick-Infestation Rate between Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus, with the First Records of the Ixodid Tick Ixodes granulatus and Its Infestation in Rodents, Free-Ranging Cats, and Humans from Mikura-Shima Island, Japan

“…While many ticks in genus Ixodes are known to mate only in off-host environments, such as on vegetation, some Ixodes ticks belonging to the I. ricinus complex and I. angustus engage in off-and on-host copulation (Kiszewski et al 2001;Sonenshine and Coons 2014). Whereas I. granulatus is rarely collected off-host such as vegetations (Doi et al 2020) and offhost copulation of this tick has never been observed, Ishak et al (2018) previously reported that all adult male I. granulatus specimens were collected while cop- ulating with females on wildlife hosts. We also observed on-host copulation in this tick.…”

“…Black rats are known to be more arboreal than Norway rats, which are more ground-dwelling (Key and Woods 1996;Foster et al 2011), which may help black rats avoid infestation. However, Ishak et al (2018) reported the opposite results, recording I. granulatus infestation in black rats but not in Norway rats in the mainland of Malaysia. Similarly, Mori et al (2019) showed that black rats were infested by I. ricinus more intensively than Norway rats in the mainland of Italy.…”