Host body microcosm and ectoparasite infracommunities: arthropod ectoparasites are not spatially segregated.

PILOSOF S.; LARESCHI MARCELA; BORIS KRASNOV

PARASITOLOGY

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2012 vol. 139 p. 1739 - 1748

0031-1820

We studied distribution of ectoparasite species (an ixodid tick, a chigger mite, seven mesostigmate mites, five fleas and three lice) on the bodies of five species of rodent hosts from marshlands Argentina to establish whether arthropod ectoparasites are segregated across body parts of the same host individual. We asked (a) whether an individual ectoparasite species prefers certain parts of the body of its host and, if yes, whether the preferred sites differ among ectoparasites species; (b) whether ectoparasite species composition differs among different parts of a host?s body; and (c) whether co-occurrences of ectoparasite species within pre-defined body parts of a host demonstrate non-random pattern, that is, whether ectoparasite co-occur in the same body part of a host either randomly or less often or more often than expected by chance. We found that, in general, ectoparasite species were not segregated across body parts of a host. Although some ectoparasites preferred certain body parts, these preferences were similar among ectoparasites belonging to different species and/or higher taxa resulting in similarity among host body parts in ectoparasite species composition. In addition, ectoparasite species demonstrated tendency to co-occur on the same body parts of a host and not to be segregated among them. We conclude that distribution of ectoparasites across body of a small mammalian is driven mainly by their interaction with a host rather than by distinct preferences or interactions among ectoparasite species.