Ciclo biológico de Ornithodoros rostratus Aragão, 1911 (Acari: Argasidae) utilizando coelhos domésticos (Oryctolagus cuniculus) como hospedeiros experimentais

Abstract

Ornithodoros rostratus is an argasid tick, which parasitizes various animals such as dogs, pigs, cattle, goats, and also humans. In Brazil the species has been described from São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goias and Minas Gerais. The aim of this work was to evaluate parameters of its life cycle using the domestic rabbits as experimental host and a population of tick collected in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso - Brazil. The experiment has measured the parameters of all phases of life cycle of O. rostratus fed individually onto the back of rabbits restrained a glass jar until attachment. For the larval stage the pre-attachment period was 5.2 ± 2.9 minutes, feeding period of 33.5 ± 13 minutes and the percentage of molt 81.74%. The nymphal instars ranged from 3-6. The mean duration of pre-attachment and feeding periods of first to the fifth instar nymphs ranged from 4.4 to 6.4 minutes and 17.3 to 39.2 minutes, respectively. The engorgement weight of nymphs increased from 1.2 mg in first instars to 58.1 mg in fifth instar . Among the nymphal instars, the third instar nymph showed longest pre-molt period with an average of 16.1 days. The percentage of ecdyses, ranging from 71.8% (Nymph 1) to 80.8% (Nymph 5). Most females emerged from fifth instar nymphs while males emerged from fourth instar nymphs. In the adult stage only the females were fed and had an average of pre-attachment period of 6.4 minutes and feeding period of 45.4 minutes. The average weight gain was 150.1 mg. The oviposition starts with an average of 6.2 days lasting between 6-14 days. The average total weight of eggs was 58.8 mg with a total average of 555.5 eggs. The pre-hatching period averaged 12.7 days, the hatching period 6-15 days and the percentage of eclosion 75.9%. The species Ornithodoros rostratus can be fed on rabbits for maintenance of colonies in the laboratory.