Neotropical Hard Ticks (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae): A Critical Analysis of Their Taxonomy, Distribution, and Host Relationships

ISBN-13: 9783030723552 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022

Alberto A. Guglielmone; Santiago Nava;Richard G. Robbins

Opis

Of the 758 species of hard ticks (family Ixodidae) currently known to science, 137 (18%) are found in the Neotropical Zoogeographic Region, an area that extends from the eastern and western flanks of the Mexican Plateau southward to southern Argentina and Chile and that also includes the Greater and Lesser Antilles and the Galápagos Islands. This vast and biotically rich region has long attracted natural scientists, with the result that the literature on Neotropical ticks, which are second only to mosquitoes as vectors of human disease and are of paramount veterinary importance, is enormous, diffuse, and often inaccessible to non-specialists. In this book, three leading authorities on the Ixodidae have combined their talents to produce a summary of essential information for every Neotropical tick species. Under each species name, readers will find an account of the original taxonomic description and subsequent redescriptions, followed by an overview of its geographic distribution and host relationships, including a discussion of human parasitism. Additional sections provide detailed analyses of tick distribution by country and zoogeographic subregion (the Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America, South America, and the Galápagos Islands), together with a review of the phenomenon of invasive tick species and examination of the many valid and invalid names that have appeared in the Neotropical tick literature. The text concludes with an unprecedented tabulation of all known hosts of Neotropical Ixodidae, including the tick life history stages collected from each host. This book is an invaluable reference for biologists and biomedical personnel seeking to familiarize themselves with the Neotropical tick fauna.

Spis treści

Introduction

Methodology

CHAPTER 1 – Prostriata. Genus Ixodes: this chapter contains data on the original descriptions and redescriptions, geographic distribution, hosts, human parasitism and comments for each of the 54 species of Neotropical Ixodes, together with a table and general summary of the status of this genus in the Neotropical Region.

CHAPTER 2 – Metastriata. Genus Amblyomma: this chapter contains data on the original descriptions and redescriptions, geographic distribution, hosts, human parasitism and comments for each of the 67 species of Neotropical Amblyomma, together with a table and general summary of the status of this genus in the Neotropical Region.

CHAPTER 3 – Metastriata. Genera Dermacentor, Haemaphysalis and Rhipicephalus: this chapter contains data on the original descriptions and redescriptions, geographic distribution, hosts, human parasitism and comments for each of the 15 Neotropical species comprising these three genera, together with a table and general summary of the status of these genera in the Neotropical Region.

CHAPTER 4 – Geographic distributions, invasive species, and incorrect names applied to Neotropical ixodids: in this chapter the geographic distribution of hard ticks is discussed on a country basis and with respect to subregions of the Neotropical Zoogeographic Region, highlighting differences in the ixodid fauna throughout the region. The chapter includes a list of invasive species of Ixodidae detected in the Neotropics that apparently failed to become established, along with a lengthy but not exhaustive list of names incorrectly applied to ixodids found in Neotropical territories.

CHAPTER 5 – Animal and human parasitism, and list of hosts of Neotropical Ixodidae: this chapter begins with an analysis of the roles of the classes, orders, families and species of hosts for Neotropical Ixodidae, and their importance as hosts of these ticks, accompanied by a synopsis for each class of host. There follows a discussion of host utilization by the different genera of Ixodidae in the Neotropical Region, including peculiarities of host-tick associations with comments related to their hypothetical historical backgrounds. This chapter also discusses human parasitism by Neotropical hard ticks, concluding with a list of hosts arranged by class, order, family and species, annotated to include the tick life history stages found on each host species.

Conclusions

References

O autorze

Alberto A. GUGLIELMONE is a senior Argentinean scientist with a long career devoted to ticks and tick-borne diseases of cattle but currently specializing in the biogeography of Ixodidae worldwide. His scientific contributions encompass hundreds of papers and several books in collaboration with scientists in about 30 countries. Dr. Guglielmone is a member of the Academia Nacional de Agronomía y Veterinaria of Argentina.

Santiago NAVA is a Senior Scientist in Parasitology at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, and Scientist at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científica y Técnicas, Argentina. His scientific contributions include more than two hundred papers and a book, with emphasis on the systematics, ecology and control of ticks, as well as the epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens. Dr. Nava actively collaborates with scientists from more than 20 countries in the Americas, Europe and Africa.

Richard G. ROBBINS is an Emeritus Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution. His 41-year career with four United States government agencies has yielded approximately 150 scientific publications, including six books and several book chapters and monographs, plus scores of agency-specific reports. Dr. Robbins is a life member of the Society of Federal Health Professionals and has been awarded the U.S. Army’s Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.