Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará, 1720, Campus Umuarama-Bloco 2T, Uberlândia, MG CEP 38400-902, Brazil.
Vet Parasitol. 2011 Jun 30;179(1-3):203-8. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.01.056. Epub 2011 Feb 2.
Amblyomma parvum is a widespread Neotropical tick found on several domestic animals and is known to harbor a Rickettsia species of yet unknown pathogenicity. However its life cycle on, and suitability of, several of these hosts has not been described. In this work the biology of A. parvum is presented when fed on seven domestic hosts (chicken, dog, rabbit, horse, guinea pig, cattle and goat). The complete life cycle of the tick varied from 96.8 to 102 days. Highest engorgement weight of larvae was from ticks fed on horses and that of nymphs from guinea pigs. Highest larval yield was from guinea pigs and that of nymphs from horses. Engorged female and egg mass weights, yield and conversion of female weight to eggs rates were the highest in dog ticks and the lowest in goat ticks. The highest egg hatching rate was seen in ticks from dogs and the lowest in ticks from cattle. Overall it was seen that dogs were the best host for adult A. parvum ticks, and guinea pigs for immatures. Horses were also shown to be a good host for all tick stages. It can thus be affirmed that A. parvum is a host generalist tick, and its distribution is probably determined by environmental requirements rather than by hosts.
扁虱是一种广泛分布于新热带地区的蜱虫，已知其携带一种尚未明确致病性的立克次氏体。然而，其在几种宿主上的生命周期和适宜性尚未得到描述。在这项工作中，当扁虱寄生在七种家畜（鸡、狗、兔、马、豚鼠、牛和山羊）上时，其生物学特性得到了研究。蜱虫的完整生命周期从 96.8 到 102 天不等。幼虫的最高吸血体重来自于马身上的蜱虫，而若虫的最高吸血体重来自于豚鼠身上的蜱虫。最高的幼虫产量来自于豚鼠，而最高的若虫产量来自于马。饱血雌性和卵团重量、产量以及雌性体重向卵的转化率在狗身上的蜱虫最高，而在山羊身上的蜱虫最低。在狗身上的蜱虫中，卵的孵化率最高，而在牛身上的蜱虫中，卵的孵化率最低。总的来说，狗是成年扁虱的最佳宿主，而豚鼠是幼体的最佳宿主。马也是所有蜱虫阶段的良好宿主。因此，可以肯定的是，扁虱是一种宿主广泛的蜱虫，其分布可能是由环境要求决定的，而不是由宿主决定的。
