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Morphological and molecular analysis of Ornithonyssus spp. (Acari: Macronyssidae) from small terrestrial mammals in Brazil

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Abstract

Based on chaetotaxy of the dorsal shield, the taxonomic status of many species of Ornithonyssus has been considered invalid, resulting in the synonymy of all Brazilian Ornithonyssus from small terrestrial wild mammals into one of the following four species: Ornithonyssus bacoti (Hirst, 1913), Ornithonyssus matogrosso (Fonseca, 1954), Ornithonyssus pereirai (Fonseca, 1935) or Ornithonyssus wernecki (Fonseca, 1935). Despite the revision of this genus in 1980, including all known species worldwide, the knowledge of Ornithonyssus in Brazil has not progressed for more than 40 years. Considering the potential importance of these haematophagous mites in transmitting rickettsial disease agents to animals and humans, we have revised Ornithonyssus species collected from small mammals in Brazil by means of morphological and molecular studies. Types and other material deposited in the Acari Collection of the Instituto Butantan (IBSP) were examined in addition to recently collected specimens. Morphological and genetic analysis of the 16S rDNA mitochondrial gene revealed that small terrestrial mammals in Brazil are parasitized by six species of Ornithonyssus mites: Ornithonyssus brasiliensis (Fonseca, 1939), O. matogrosso, O. monteiroi (Fonseca, 1941), O. pereirai, O. vitzthumi (Fonseca, 1941), and O. wernecki. An illustrated key to females of the valid Brazilian species of Ornithonyssus is included, based on optical and scanning electron microscopy.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Fernando C. Jacinavicius who kindly compiled data from the IBSP collections for preparing the maps. This study was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo—FAPESP (grant number 2007/57749-2 to DMBB) and by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq (grant number 478950/2004-7 to DMBB); academic CNPq career scholarship to DMBB and MBL, and CNPq PhD scholarship to FANB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Fernanda A. Nieri-Bastos, Marcelo B. Labruna & Arlei Marcili

  2. Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA

    Lance A. Durden

  3. División de Entomología, Centro Nacional de Laboratorios en Salud Pública, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Peru

    Leonardo Mendoza-Uribe

  4. Laboratório de Parasitologia, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil

    Darci M. Barros-Battesti

Authors
  1. Fernanda A. Nieri-Bastos
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  2. Marcelo B. Labruna
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  3. Arlei Marcili
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  4. Lance A. Durden
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  5. Leonardo Mendoza-Uribe
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  6. Darci M. Barros-Battesti
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Correspondence to Fernanda A. Nieri-Bastos.

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Nieri-Bastos, F.A., Labruna, M.B., Marcili, A. et al. Morphological and molecular analysis of Ornithonyssus spp. (Acari: Macronyssidae) from small terrestrial mammals in Brazil. Exp Appl Acarol 55, 305–327 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-011-9475-z

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