Search

Mites of the family Pterygosomatidae are usually infesting lizards, geckos and iguanas. In this family, the genus Geckobiella Hirst, 1917 comprises 12 species including Geckobiella donnae Paredes-León, Klompen et Pérez, 2012. We collected 48 mites of G.donnae from 10 captive iguanas Ctenosaura bakeri Stejneger (Reptilia: Iguanidae) out of 23 examined individuals (prevalence 43% ) in Iguana Research and Breeding Station on Isla de Utila, Islas de la Bahía, Honduras on 1 September 2014. Males of G. donnae occurred together with females. The male of G. donnae is described here for the first time. We speculated that G. donnae is autochthonous on Isla de Utila with C. bakeri as a natural host or that it was transmitted to C. bakeri from Iguana iguana (Linnaeus) native to Utila or introduced to Utila from the North American/Central American mainland by a host kept as a pet.

The chiggers (Acari: Trombiculidae) Blankaartia sinnamaryi (Floch et Fauran, 1956), Parasecia soucouyanti (Brennan et Yunker, 1966), Eutrombicula lipovskyana (Wolfenbarger, 1952) and Neoschoengastia dalmati Brennan, 1951 were found in Honduras on a total of twelve bird species. Parasecia soucouyanti was recorded parasitising birds for the first time. All these mites are here reported from Honduras for the first time.

Ticks were collected from captive reptiles, wild birds, and incidentally from humans at two locations in Honduras and part of these were tested for the presence of Rickettsia using polymerase chain reaction. The following species of ticks were found: Amblyomma dissimile on Iguanidae reptiles, Amblyomma longirostre and Amblyomma nodosum on birds, and Amblyomma mixtum (Amblyomma cajennense complex) on humans. A. dissimile was infected with Rickettsia sp. strain Colombianensi. Both A. longirostre and A. mixtum were infected with Candidatus 'Rickettsia amblyommii'. This study provides the first report of rickettsial infections in ticks from reptiles, birds and humans in Honduras. New host - Amblyomma tick associations are documented., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)