Interelationships between ectoparasites and rodents in wild and urban environments at Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil Interrelacoes entre ectoparasitos e roedores em ambientes silvestre e urbano de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil
Botelho, J.R.miro.; Linardi, P.M.rcos.
Revista Brasileira de Entomologia. dez; 403-4: 425-430
1996
Document Number: 234892
Eighteen species of ectoparasites were collected from 620 Rattus norvegicus norvegicus (Berkenhout) and 253 wild rodents, including Bolomys lasiurus (Lund), Oryzomys nigripes (Olfers) and Oryzomys subflavus (Wagner), from September 1982 to August 1983, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Four species of mites were recorded for the first time from Minas Gerais. The mite Cosmolaelaps bregetovae (Fonseca) was also recorded for the first time from Brazil. New host records are given for four species of mites and one of louse. The sex ratio of the ectoparasites, as well as the intensity of Acari, fleas and lice on the separate sexes of rodents are presented. The ectoparasites preferentially infested male rodents, both in wild and urban environments. Species that occurred in simple or multiple infestations were recorded. 89.52% of the commensal rodents and 92.29% of the wild rodents were infested by ectoparasites. Contrary to the mites, the infestation by fleas and lice was more prevalent in the urban environment. The differences of infestation were highly significant for all groups of ectoparasites, when compared by environments of capture.