Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius, 1787)

Benavides-Montaño, Javier Antonio, Betancourt-Echeverri, Jesus Antonio, Valencia, Gustavo López & Mesa-Cobo, Nora Cristina, 2022, A review of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Colombia: The risk of tick-borne diseases, Persian Journal of Acarology 11 (3), pp. 397-437 : 400

Amblyomma cajennense s.l.

In Colombia, there are widespread reports of its presence in horses, cattle, and humans ( Reyes 1938). There have been reports of its presence in Valle del Cauca from cattle and horses (Benavides et al. 2018), in cattle from Monteria, Arboletes, Toluviejo, Caucasia (West of Cordoba) ( Betancourt et al. 1992) in Toluviejo, Sincelejo and San Marcos, Department of Sucre ( Contreras Ortega 2016) and the Piedemonte (Foothhills) of Meta and Casanare, in the Eastern Planes ( Cassalett et al. 2013). Regarding this, it is interesting to see that Betancourt et al. (1991) did not find any A. cajennense s.l. in cattle in Tumaco. Future local comparative studies are required in order to clarify the identity of the species of Amblyomma . reviewed until now, as it is unclear if it is A. cajennense s.l. In different entomological and tick collections of Colombia, the species frequently identified as A. cajennense s.l. might be composed of A. patinoi and/or A. mixtum ; hence there is need for future studies in different geographical regions of Colombia. In a study conducted in six departments of Colombia (Antioquia, Atlántico, Bolívar, Córdoba, Magdalena, and Sucre), 3,308 ticks were collected including A. cajennense s.l., A. ovale , R. microplus and D. nitens , in which Rickettsia rickettsii , R. bellii , R. felis, Candidatus Rickettsia colombianensi and R. parkeri were found. A total of 649 animals were sampled for the presence of Rickettsiae. Among them, 18% were found positive (117/649) for R. rickettsii , R. amblyommatis and R. bellii ( Acevedo-Gutiérrez et al. 2017) .