Dantas-Torres Filipe, Maia Carla, Latrofa Maria Stefania, Annoscia Giada, Cardoso Luís, Otranto Domenico
Department of Immunology, Aggeu Magalhães Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Recife, Pernambuco, 50740-465, Brazil.
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, 70010, Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
Parasit Vectors. 2017 Mar 13;10(1):133. doi: 10.1186/s13071-017-2072-1.
The taxonomic status of the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (sensu stricto) is a subject of on-going debate; there is a consensus that populations of this tick species should be referred to as R. sanguineus (sensu lato) until its taxonomic status is resolved. Recent genetic studies revealed the existence of more than one lineage of R. sanguineus (s.l.) in temperate countries. In this study, we assessed the genetic identity of ticks collected from rural dogs living in several areas located in all major geographical regions of Portugal.
A total of 347 ticks were collected from rural dogs living in different regions of Portugal. These ticks were morphologically identified and partial mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences (~300 bp) were obtained from representative specimens.
The ticks were morphologically identified as Ixodes ricinus (seven males and 27 females), Rhipicephalus bursa (one male), Rhipicephalus pusillus (one female) and R. sanguineus (s.l.) (two larvae, 101 nymphs, 108 males and 100 females). Partial mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences were obtained from 58 R. sanguineus (s.l.) specimens, and all of them were genetically identified as belonging to the so-called temperate lineage of R. sanguineus (s.l.) CONCLUSIONS: These results strongly suggest that the temperate species of R. sanguineus (s.l.) is the only representative of this tick group found on dogs in Portugal. It also adds weight to the hypothesis that Rhipicephalus turanicus is not present in this country, although further investigations are necessary to confirm this.
棕狗蜱血红扇头蜱（狭义）的分类地位是一个仍在争论的话题；人们普遍认为，在其分类地位确定之前，该蜱种的种群应被称为血红扇头蜱（广义）。最近的遗传学研究表明，在温带国家存在不止一个血红扇头蜱（广义）谱系。在本研究中，我们评估了从葡萄牙所有主要地理区域的几个地区的农村犬只身上采集的蜱的基因特征。
从葡萄牙不同地区的农村犬只身上共采集了347只蜱。对这些蜱进行形态学鉴定，并从代表性标本中获得部分线粒体16S rRNA基因序列（约300bp）。
这些蜱在形态上被鉴定为蓖麻硬蜱（7只雄性和27只雌性）、囊形扇头蜱（1只雄性）、微小扇头蜱（1只雌性）和血红扇头蜱（广义）（2只幼虫、101只若虫、108只雄性和100只雌性）。从58只血红扇头蜱（广义）标本中获得了部分线粒体16S rRNA基因序列，所有这些序列在基因上都被鉴定为属于所谓的血红扇头蜱（广义）温带谱系。
这些结果有力地表明，血红扇头蜱（广义）的温带物种是在葡萄牙犬只身上发现的该蜱类群的唯一代表。这也进一步支持了该国不存在图兰扇头蜱的假设，尽管需要进一步调查来证实这一点。
