Ticks (Parasitiformes: Ixodida: Ixodidae) parasites of wild Baird’s tapirs (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

ABSTRACT

Tapirs are common hosts of ticks and an individual can be infested by up to seven different tick species. We explored the parasitic tick fauna associated with wild Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) from the Yucatan Peninsula. A total of 326 ticks of 10 species of the Family Ixodidae were collected from 15 tapirs. We found a range of one to six tick species per host, but most of the tapirs were parasitized by two or three tick species. We tested the relationship between body condition, sex, and age classes of the tapirs versus the number of tick species on each host. The most common tick species was Amblyomma mixtum found on 93% of the hosts. Amblyomma pecarium, Amblyomma tenellum, Ixodes affinis and Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato were recorded for the first-time parasitizing Baird’s tapirs. We did not find a relationship between body condition, sex, and age classes of tapirs versus the number of parasitizing tick species. Our finding demonstrates that the richness of ticks parasitizing tapirs does not depend on the biological characteristics and health status of the host, but could be determined by other factors such as habitat use and the rate of contact with domestic animals.

KEYWORDS:

• Amblyomma
• Calakmul
• Ixodes
• Dermacentor
• Haemaphysalis
• Rhipicephalus
• Tapirus bairdii

Acknowledgments

We thank to Griselda Montiel-Parra and Tila M. Pérez of the Colección Nacional de Ácaros (CNAC), IB-UNAM for their support to carry out this research in the laboratory of the CNAC. We thank Sophie Calmé, Nicolás Arias, Rafael Reyna Hurtado, Mauro Sanvicente López, Edwin Hernández Pérez, Antonio López-Cen, Salvador Julio, Abimael Cervantes and Fernando Contreras. We are very grateful to G. Lara, E. López, K. Sepulveda and R. Raigoza from Grupo Xcaret for their support in this research. Special thanks to Wilber Martinez for early comments. The map was produced by Holger Weissenberger (ECOSUR/Chetumal). The illustrations of tapirs were performed by Nereyda Pablo. Special thanks are due to the authorities of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and Procuraduria Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA) for their support in this research. JPF was supported by a scholarship (361517) granted by the Mexican government through CONACYT.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).