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Morphological and molecular identification of medically important questing Dermacentor species collected from some recreational areas of Peninsular Malaysia

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Abstract

Questing is a situation when a tick is seeking to get closer or ambush its potential host. However, information on questing tick species in Malaysia is still lacking, thus the association with tick-borne diseases (TBD) is not completely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the tick species from five most frequently visited recreational areas in Pahang and Terengganu states, which were recorded to have high potential of TBD cases. By implementing handpick method, a total of 18 males and 15 females belonging to five Dermacentor Koch, 1844 species, were collected, namely D. compactus Neumann 1901, D. tricuspis (Schulze, 1933), D. auratus Supino 1897, D. steini (Schulze, 1933), and D. falsosteini Apanaskevich, Apanaskevich & Nooma respectively. The specimens were collected and identified based on morphological characters prior to obtaining the molecular data of COI and 16S rDNA. The D. compactus was the most abundant species collected in this study, while D. falsosteini was the least. All species were distinctly separated on the Neighbor Joining and Maximum Parsimony tree topologies and supported with high bootstrap values. Furthermore, a low intraspecific variation (0.00 - 0.01) was observed amongst the individuals of the same species in both genes. Meanwhile, each Dermacentor species was genetically different, with interspecific values ranging from 0.13-0.19 and 0.11-0.20 for COI and 16S rDNA. These findings had successfully recorded the tick species that were potentially associated with TBD, and which might be circulated among humans and animals. This study also has some implications on the diversity and geographical extension of Dermacentor ticks, thus should warrant further investigation as a potential vector of tick-borne diseases and public health importance.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Director-General of Health Malaysia for his permission to publish this article. Our gratitude is also dedicated to the Director-General of Forestry Department from Pahang and Terengganu for the approval to conduct fieldwork and collection of ticks. We wish to thank also the entomologists from State Health Department (Pahang & Terengganu) and staffs of Acarology Unit, Institute for Medical Research, Shah Alam, Selangor for their assistance in the field. The authors would also like to thank Maimon Abdullah for her kind editing and critical comments of the final draft copy of this paper.

Funding

This study was supported by Ministry of Health, Malaysia Grant (NMRR ID: 18-229-40116; 18-031).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Acarology Unit, Infectious Diseases Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research (IMR), National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52, Seksyen U13, Setia Alam, 40170, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Faraliana Che Lah Ernieenor, George Ernna, Bd Bilin Ellyncia & Ahamad Mariana

  2. Department of Biological Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

    Faraliana Che Lah Ernieenor, Badrul Munir Md. Zain & Salmah Yaakop

  3. United States National Tick Collection, The James H. Oliver, Jr. Institute for Coastal Plain Science, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, 30460-8042, USA

    Dmitry A. Apanaskevich

  4. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199034

    Dmitry A. Apanaskevich

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  1. Faraliana Che Lah Ernieenor
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  3. George Ernna
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Correspondence to Salmah Yaakop.

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Ernieenor, F.C.L., Apanaskevich, D.A., Ernna, G. et al. Morphological and molecular identification of medically important questing Dermacentor species collected from some recreational areas of Peninsular Malaysia. Syst Parasitol 98, 731–751 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-021-10008-2

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