Ticks (Acarina: Ixodida) infesting five reptile species in Sri Lanka with sixteen new host records

Abstract

The first study on ticks on reptiles of Sri Lanka dates back to Seneviratna (1965) who reported ticks from five reptiles. Later studies were either limited to one reptile (Fernando & Fernando 2012), or captive animals in zoos (Fernando & Randeniaya 2009) and household pets (Nathanael et al. 2004). According to the current classification (Guglielmone et al. 2010), all the tick species previously recorded on reptiles belong to five species of Amblyomma: A. clypeolatum Neumann, A. gervaisi (Lucas), A. pattoni (Neumann), A. trimaculatum (Lucas) and A. varanense (Supino). Some of the species listed by Seneviratna (1965) were either synonyms or invalid in respect to the present classification. For example Amblyomma laeve sensu Warburton (1910) is a junior synonym of A. pattoni and A. gervaisii var. lucasi is considered a junior synonym of A. varanense (Guglielmone et al. 2010; D. Apanaskevich pers. comm.).

Spotted fever group rickettsia in ticks infesting humans, wild and domesticated animals of Sri Lanka: one health approach

“…These include three Amblyomma species: Amblyomma testudinairum taken from a wild boar (Sus cristatus cristatus), Amblyomma clypeolatum from a star tortoise, and Amblyomma javanense from a pangolin and Rhipicephalus sanguineus from a dog. Except for A. javanense other three tick species infest humans (Liyanaarachchi et al, 2015a) which shows that all these tick species positive for spotted fever rickettsia could act as a vector spreading the infection from reservoirs to humans.…”

“…Wild animals such as wild boar, monkey, mouse deer, barking deer, pangolins, civet cats, fishing cats, porcupines and elephants recently have become peri-domestic animals in Sri Lanka (Personal communications with civilians). Most of the tick species that were collected from domesticated animals during the present study (Liyanaarachchi et al, 2015b) were previously recorded only from wild animals (Seneviratne, 1965). Introduction of new tick species to domestic stock reveals that they are vulnerable to infections which prevail in wild.…”

“…Moreover, dogs carry A. testudinarium, A. clypeolatum and R. sanguinus (Liyanaarachchi et al, 2015b) and therefore there is a possibility that humans acquire these infections from the wild reservoirs via dogs.…”

“…A substantial increase in numbers of wild boar has been observed in domestic and peri-domestic areas due to recent law enforcement by the Department of Wildlife Conservation restricting the killing of wild boars for meat (personal communication with villagers). The most common tick on wild boar is A. testudinarium (Liyanaarachchi et al, 2015b) and of the five specimens analysed from wild boars, one was positive for rickettsial infections. It is also the second most common tick species on humans and also infests dogs (Ariyaratne et al, 2010;Liyanaarachi et al, 2015b).…”

“…Amblyomma testudinarium is a generalist infesting humans, many domesticated animals such as dogs, cattle, buffalo, goat, cat and domestic fowl and wild animals such as mouse deer, sambar, pangolin, and elephant in addition to wild boar (Liyanaarachchi et al, 2015b).In the dry zone of Sri Lanka farmers who rear livestock, especially cattle, buffalo and goat, releasing them during the day time to graze in the nearby forests is a common practice. The spread of ticks and the infections they carry can also occur when they return to their resting places in the evening with the ticks they picked from wildlife.…”