The hard-tick fauna of mainland Portugal (Acari: Ixodidae): an update on geographical distribution and known associations with hosts and pathogensArchived

The hard-tick fauna of mainland Portugal (Acari: Ixodidae): an update on geographical distribution and known associations with hosts and pathogensM. M. Santos-Silva1, L. Beati2, A. S. Santos1, R. De Sousa1, M. S. Núncio1, P. Melo3, M. Santos-Reis4, C. Fonseca5, P. Formosinho6, C. Vilela7, F. Bacellar1. 1 Centro de Estudos de Vectores e Doenças Infecciosas Dr. Francisco Cambournac, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge I.P., Águas de Moura, Portugal,  2 S National Tick Collection, Institute of Arthropodology and Parasitology, Georgia Southern University,    Statesboro, GA 30460-8056, USA, 3 Vetnatura, Oeiras, Portugal, 4 Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, 5 CESAM, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, 6 Instituição Privada, Lisbon, Portugal, 7 CIISA, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, Experimental and Applied Acarology 2011 Mar 31. [Epub ahead of print] Doi: 10.1007/s10493-011-9440-x

This work is an updated revision of the available information on Portuguese ixodid tick species. It includes data on tick biology, ecology, taxonomy and host/pathogen-associations. The current list of Portuguese ixodid ticks comprises twenty species: Dermacentor marginatus (Sulzer, 1776), Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794), Haemaphysalis hispanica Gil Collado, 1938, Haemaphysalis inermis Birula, 1895, Haemaphysalis punctata Canestrini & Fanzago, 1878, Hyalomma lusitanicum Koch, 1844, Hyalomma marginatum Koch, 1844, Ixodes acuminatus Neumann, 1901, Ixodes bivari Dias, 1990, Ixodes canisuga Johnston, 1849, Ixodes frontalis (Panzer, 1798), Ixodes hexagonus Leach, 1815, Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758), Ixodes simplex Neumann, 1906, Ixodes ventalloi Gil Collado, 1936, Ixodes vespertilionis Koch, 1844, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus (Say, 1821), Rhipicephalus bursa Canestrini & Fanzago, 1878, Rhipicephalus pusillus Gil Collado, 1938, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806).

Arthropod Vector Surveillance network (VBORNET): This work is a synthesis of all the historical reports of tick presence collected in Portugal and represented by administrative regions and smaller administrative divisions. Such data were also completed by tick sampling conducted in targeted areas during the last 15 years. More than 15,000 ticks were collected from humans, domestic and wild animals and from vegetation for morphological identification. This is an amazing and so useful work that totally answers to the ECDC call for tick expert knowledge and shows that past data may be of great importance as basis of knowledge. Such work is also useful to point out some potential changes of tick distribution (expansion or extinction) that should be further investigated in relation to associated pathogens.