The current study investigated the occurrence of ticks and their rickettsiae in the Serra do Mar State Park, which encompasses one of the largest Atlantic rain forest reserves of Brazil. From July 2008 to June 2009, a total of 2439 ticks (2,196 free living and 243 collected on hosts) was collected, encompassing the following 13 species: Amblyomma aureolatum (Pallas), Amblyomma brasiliense AragA...

Since its original description from the Amazonian region, the tick species Amblyomma goeldii Neumann, 1899 has been misidentified with Amblyomma rotundatum Koch, 1844 in different countries of the Neotropical region. Because of this, some authors have considered that the only confirmed records of A. goeldii were from French Guyana. Herein, we reviewed all specimens of A. goeldii that have been ...

Herein, Amblyomma tenellumKoch, 1844 (Ixodidae) is reestablished as a valid tick name and removed from the synonymy list of Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius, 1787), while Amblyomma imitatorKohls, 1958, is relegated to a junior synonym of A. tenellum. Amblyomma tenellum is redescribed based on the examination of male type specimens collected by Deppe at the beginning of the 19th century in Mexico...

This work was performed to detect Rickettsia species of the spotted fever group in Amblyomma ticks likely to infest humans in rural areas from northwestern Argentina. Free-living ticks were collected and determined as Amblyomma tigrinum, Amblyomma neumanni and Amblyomma tonelliae. Rickettsia infection was determined by polymerase chain reactions which amplify fragments of the rickettsial genes ...

Previous population dynamics data, generated for Amblyomma parvum Aragão and Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius) in Argentina and southeastern Brazil, have indicated that these ticks complete 1 generation per year, with larvae predominating in autumn, nymphs in winter, and mostly adults during spring and summer. The present study reports population dynamics data for free-living Amblyomma spp. tick...

A total of 586 reptiles, belonging to 35 species and five subspecies, were examined in surveys aimed at determining the species spectrum and geographic distribution of ticks that infest them. Of these reptiles 509 were tortoises, 28 monitor or other lizards, and 49 snakes. Nine ixodid tick species, of which seven belonged to the genus Amblyomma, and one argasid tick, Ornithodoros compactus were...

Due to a suspected human case of Brazilian Lyme-like disease in the city of Goiatins, Tocantins State, an epidemiological survey was carried out in eight counties in this region during September 2007 and February 2008, where 1,890 ticks were collected from domestic animals and from the environment. A total of eight tick species were identified: Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus...

Two non-cationic defensin-like antimicrobial peptides, named Amblyomma defensin peptide 1 and Amblyomma defensin peptide 2, were identified from the hard tick, Amblyomma hebraeum, by a combination of suppression subtractive hybridization for differentially expressed genes and proteomics. cDNA clones encoding each of these two defensin-like antimicrobial peptides were isolated from the different...

During 2006-2008, a total of 260 adult ticks were collected from domestic and wild animals in different regions of the state of Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil, including areas where human cases of Brazilian spotted fever have been reported. Collected ticks belonging to nine species (Amblyomma aureolatum, Amblyomma cajennense, Amblyomma dubitatum, Amblyomma longirostre, Amblyomma ovale, Amblyomma t...