Faculdade de Ciências da Educação e Saúde, Centro Universitário de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT 78060900, Brazil.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2020 Jul;11(4):101424. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101424. Epub 2020 Mar 24.
The removal of ectoparasites is a common behavior found across animal taxa and is a determinant to avoid the negative effects of parasites' presence. Eventually, the elimination of ectoparasites is associated with mutualistic interactions. Cleaner birds remove ectoparasites, providing benefits to its mutualistic host by reducing parasite burden while they obtain a protein food source. Here we report some evidence that giant cowbirds (Molothrus oryzivorus) may have an important role as a cleaner bird. We found 74 adult ticks inside the ventriculus of one male giant cowbird. The ticks belonged to three different species: Amblyomma dubitatum, A. sculptum and A. triste. We found that the sex-ratio of the consumed adult ticks was not different from 1:1. Although additional data are necessary, the large number of ticks found suggests that the giant cowbird may have developed a mutualistic association with large, social mammals such as capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), since this animal is an important host species for the three tick species found in the present study.
清除外寄生虫是动物分类群中普遍存在的一种行为，是避免寄生虫存在负面影响的决定因素。最终，清除外寄生虫与互利共生相互作用有关。清洁鸟清除外寄生虫，通过减少寄生虫负担为其互利共生的宿主提供益处，同时它们获得蛋白质食物来源。在这里，我们报告了一些证据表明巨型牛鹂（Molothrus oryzivorus）可能是一种重要的清洁鸟。我们在一只雄性巨型牛鹂的心室中发现了 74 只成年蜱虫。这些蜱虫属于三种不同的物种：Dermatocentor dubitatum、A. sculptum 和 A. triste。我们发现，消耗的成年蜱虫的性别比例与 1:1 没有差异。尽管还需要更多的数据，但发现的大量蜱虫表明，巨型牛鹂可能与大型、社会性哺乳动物（如水豚 Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris）建立了互利共生关系，因为这种动物是本研究中发现的三种蜱虫的重要宿主物种。
