Seasonal and habitat dependence of fleas parasitic on small mammals in Tanzania

We investigated host and flea species composition across different habitats during dry and rainy seasons in the Western Usambara Mountains in Tanzania.During both seasons,similarity in flea species composition increased with an increase in the similarity in host species composition.Nevertheless,between-season within-habitat as well as within-season between-habitat similarity in host species composition was higher than similarity in flea species composition.Ordination of habitats according to their host and flea species composition demonstrated that the pattern of between-habitat similarity in both host and flea species composition varied seasonally.Despite the relatively rich mammal and flea fauna of the study region,the major contribution to variation in species composition between seasons and among habitats was due to a few species only.Flea assemblages on Lophuromys kilonzoi Verheyen et al.,2007 and Praomys delectorum Thomas,1910 in different habitats were equally similar in either season.In contrast,flea assemblages on Mastomys natalensis(Smith,1834)occurring in different habitats were more similar in the dry than in the rainy season,whereas the opposite was the case for fleas on Grammomys sp.In different hosts,the main differences in species composition of flea assemblages between seasons as well as among habitats were due to different flea species.Although our results support the earlier idea that parasite species composition is determined by both host species composition and habitat properties,the former appears to explain variance in flea species composition between localities in the tropics better than between localities in temperate and arid zones.

Preliminary investigation on rodent–ectoparasite associations in the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia:implications for potential zoonoses

We studied associations between rodents and their arthropod ectoparasites in crop fields and household compounds in the highlands of Tigray,Northern Ethiopia.Ectoparasite infestation indices,such as percent infestation,mean abundance,prevalence and host preferences,were calculated for each taxon.In total,172 rodents from crop fields and 97 from household compounds were trapped.Rodent species and numbers trapped from the crop fields and household compounds were Mastomys awashensis(Lavrenchenko,Likhnova&Baskevich,1998)(88 and 44),Arvicanthis dembeensis(Ruppel,1842)(63 and 37)and Acomys sp.(21 and 16),respectively.A total of 558 insects and acarids(belonging to 11 taxa)were recovered from the rodents trapped in the crop fields,and 296 insects and acarid(belonging to 6 taxa)from the rodents trapped in the household compounds.Approximately 66%of the rodents trapped from the crop fields and 47%of those trapped from the household compounds were infested with ectoparasites.Laelaps sp.(64.9%)and Xenopsylla sp.(20.6%)comprised the highest proportion of the ectoparasites recovered in the crop fields,and the same ectoparasites,but in reverse order,comprised the highest proportions in the household compounds(Xenopsylla[50.3%]and Laelaps sp.[29%]).Our study revealed that crop fields and household compounds in the highlands share similar rodents and several ectoparasites.Furthermore,at least 1 of the rodent species and some of the ectoparasites identified in this study were reported to have posed medical and veterinary threats in other parts of Ethiopia and neighboring countries.