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Ticks species (Ixodida) in the Summit Municipal Park and adjacent areas, Panama City, Panama

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Abstract

From September 2007 to September 2009, we studied the species of ticks present in the Summit Municipal Park. Ticks were extracted from zoo animals, free-living wild mammals and reptiles trapped, dead mammals on the roads and environment (ground and zoo burrows). A total of 2,649 ticks were collected: 2,167 immature stages (1,345 larvae and 822 nymphs) and 482 adults. Seventeen species were identified: Ornithodoros puertorricensis (Argasidae), Amblyomma auricularium, A. cajennense, A. calcaratum, A. dissimile, A. geayi, A. naponense, A. nodosum, A. oblongoguttatum, A. ovale, A. pecarium, A. sabanerae, A. tapirellum, A. varium, Ixodes luciae, Haemaphysalis juxtakochi and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Ixodidae), representing 36% of the species reported in Panama. Amblyomma ovale was the species most commonly infesting animals from the zoo.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank National Authority of Environmental (ANAM) for permission to conduct this study; Adrián Benedetti and Halith Koshen, from Summit Municipal Park, for their assistance and courtesy; Valeria Onofrio and Grace Alpízar for her comments and literature suggestions; Publio González for aid with the Oryzomys talamancae identification; Luis Paternina for assistance with the literature corresponding to Ornithodoros puertorricensis; Marcelo Labruna for critically reviewing an early draft of this manuscript and Victor Townsend for his comments and English review. This article is partially funded by ICGES and grant COL 007-45 of SENACYT.

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Correspondence to Sergio E. Bermúdez C..

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Bermúdez C., S.E., Miranda C., R.J. & Smith C., D. Ticks species (Ixodida) in the Summit Municipal Park and adjacent areas, Panama City, Panama. Exp Appl Acarol 52, 439–448 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-010-9374-8

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