Abstract

Birds are recognized hosts of ticks, especially for the immature stages which may harbor various species and strains ofRickettsia. To explore landscapes inhabited by birds and their ticks would expand the knowledge on host-parasite relationships and the rickettsiae. The aim of this paper was to record the diversity of ticks collected on wild birds and assess the phylogenetic position of a novelRickettsiastrain detected in immature ticks. Birds were captured in the Ibitipoca State Park, located in the Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil, as part of a long-term research project on the ecology of ticks, birds andRickettsia. We found three tick species parasitizing birds:Amblyomma aureolatum(63 larvae, 10 nymphs),Haemaphysalis leporispalustris(28 larvae, seven nymphs) andAmblyomma romarioi(27 larvae). Among these,A. aureolatumwas the most abundant species including 54% (73/135) of the collected ticks. New tick-host records were:A. romarioionTurdus amaurochalinusandH. leporispalustrisonThamnophilus caerulescens,Saltator similisandZonotrichia capensis. Of the 82 ticks tested forRickettsiaspp. by PCR, two larvae (2.5%) ofA. romarioiwere infected with 'CandidatusRickettsia paranaensis', a novel putativeRickettsiaspecies closely related toRickettsia africae,Rickettsia sibiricaandRickettsia parkeri, as corroborated by our phylogenetic analysis. Finally, we present a list of all records of immature stages ofH. leporispalustrison passerine birds in Brazil.