Biologia de Amblyomma rotundatum KOCH, 1844 (Acari: ixodidae) parasitando três gêneros de ofídios no Brasil

Abstract

Amblyomma rotundatum is an ixodide tick that infests cold blood animals and reproduces exclusively by parthenogenesis. Although this species has been frequently reported infesting reptiles and amphibians, under natural and captivity conditions in other countries, little is known about its biological aspects in Brazil. According to field observations, some groups of rattle sankes (Crotalus durissus ssp.) have a natural resistance to ticks when compared to other groups pf ophitidians kept under similar conditions. With the objective to study the life cycle of A. rotundatum and to compare some biological parameters of ticks feeding on three different genera of Brazilian ophidians (Crotalus sp., Bothrops sp. and Walglerophis sp), a tick colony was established and maintained under laboratory conditions, at 27ºC +-1 and 75 to 95% relative humidity, keeping the parasitic stages under a photoperiod of the 12 h and the free stages under scotophase. Crotalus durissus sp. did not show to be an efficient host for maintenance of ectoparasites when compared to specimens of the genus Bothrops sp. and the species W. merremii. The total duration of the biologicalcycle ranged from two to five months. Under specific conditions, the number of hosts required for completion of A. rotundatum biological life cycle was two or three. The most of the observed ticks used two host cycle. The mortality rate of the used snakes was 70%. The observed symptomatology included stomatitis, pneumonia, enteritis ans cutaneous absceses.