Species occurrence of ticks in South America, and interactions with biotic and abiotic traits

ESTRADA-PEÑA, AGUSTIN; NAVA, SANTIAGO; TARRAGONA, EVELINA; BERMÚDEZ, SERGIO; DE LA FUENTE, JOSÉ; DOMINGOS, ANA; LABRUNA, MARCELO; MOSQUEDA, JUAN; MERINO, OCTAVIO; SZABÓ, MATIAS; VENZAL, JOSE M.; GUGLIELMONE, ALBERTO A.

Scientific Data

Nature

Año: 2019 vol. 6

The datasets of records of the distribution of ticks and their hosts are invaluable tools to understandthe phylogenetic patterns of evolution of ticks and the abiotic traits to which they are associated. Suchdatasets require an exhaustive collection of bibliographical references. In most cases, it is necessary theconfirmation of reliable identification of ticks, together with an update of the scientific names of thevertebrate hosts. These data are not easily available, because many records were published in the socalled?grey literature?. Herein, we introduced the Dataset of Ticks in South America, a repository thatcollates data on 4,764 records of ticks (4,124 geo-referenced) with a special reference to an extra 2,370records of ticks on cattle, together with a set of abiotic traits, curated from satellite-derived informationover the complete target region. The dataset includes details of the phylogenetic relationships of thespecies of hosts, providing researchers with both biotic and abiotic traits that drive the distribution andevolution of ticks in South America.