BIOTROPIA (2) 1988/1989: 32-37
A COLLECTION OF TICKS (IXODIDAE) FROM
SULAWESI UTARA, INDONESIA
L.A. DURDEN
Department of Entomology, NHB 165, Museum Support Center
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 20560, U.S.A.
C.H.S. WATTS
Division of Natural Science
South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide,
South Australia 5000, Australia
ABSTRACT
Ixodid ticks were collected from seven species of endemic murid rodents and from vegetation in
Sulawesi Utara, Indonesia. Adult ticks belonging to the species, Amblyomma babirussae, A. cyprium and
Dermacentor (Indocentor) steini were taken from the vegetation. Immature ticks assignable to the genera,
Haemaphysalis, Amblyomma and Ixodes infested the murids with Parauromys dominator and Maxomys
musschenbroekii being the two most heavily tick-infested host species. The data are compared to other tick
records from Sulawesi.
INTRODUCTION
Ectoparasites were collected from murid rodents live-trapped in Sulawesi Utara
(North Sulawesi), Indonesia, on August 1985. We report here on the ticks (Ixodi-dae)
collected during this project. Eighty five murids belonging to seven species, all endemic
to Sulawesi, were examined for ticks. The comparatively small size of these host
animals made infestation by adult ticks (which are identifiable to the species level)
unlikely, so adult ticks were taken from vegetation when possible to supplement the
collections. Collection data for the 58 ticks recovered from the murids and from
vegetation are given below, listed by collection locality. Specimens are currently in the
Rocky Mountain Laboratory collections (now at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
Washington B.C., U.S.A.) and accession numbers are also given. Mammal specimens are
either with collections of the South Australian Museum or the Museum Zoologicum
Bogoriense, Indonesia; their original collection numbers are presented here.
1. Gunung Moajat (0°45'N 124°25'E). Elevation, 1800 m. From
- vegetation. Amblyomma cyprium Neumann (1Q)
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A collection of ticks (Ixodidae)-L.A. Durden & C.H.S. Watts
- Ex. Parauromys dominator (CHSW No. 114)
Haemaphysalis sp. (1L*)
2. Dumoga-Bone Nat. Park (0°34'N 123°54'E). Elevation, 200-300 m.
- On grass at forest edge Dermacentor (Indocentor)
steini Schulze (1°)
- Ex. Maxomys musschenbroekii (CHSW No. 19)
Amblyomma sp. (4L, 2N*) Haemaphysalis sp. (1L)
- Ex. M. musschenbroekii (CHSW No. 21)
Amblyomma sp. (3L)
- Ex. Rattus xanthurus (CHSW No. 28)
Amblyomma sp. (IN) Amblyomma sp.
(probably)(lN)
- Ex. Maxomys hellwaldii (CHSW No. 42)
Haemaphysalis sp. (4N) (One specimen has three acaridid mites attached to its
venter).
- Ex. Rattus hoffmanni (CHSW No. 47)
Haemaphysalis sp. (1L, IN) Ex. P.
dominator (CHSW No. 48) Amblyomma sp.
(12L, IN)
- Ex. M. musschenbroekii (CHSW No. 54) Ixodes
sp. (2L)
- Ex. M. musschenbroekii (CHSW No. 55)
Haemaphysalis sp. (7N)
- Ex. R. hoffmanni (CHSW No. 58) Ixodes sp.
(1L)
- Ex. P. dominator (CHSW No. 66)
Haemaphysalis sp. (IN)
- Ex. R. hoffmanni (CHSW No. 80) Ixodes sp.
(IN)
3. Dumoga-Bone Nat. Park. Hog's Back Ridge (0°35'N 123°52'E) Elevation, 490 m.
- Ex. P. dominator
Haemaphysalis sp. (IN)
- Ex. R. hoffmanni (CHSW No. 138)
Amblyomma sp. (4L, 4N - 2 of these nymphs belong to one species and 2 to a
second species)
4. Gunung Mogogonipa (0°27'N 123°57'E). Elevation, 1008 m.
- On vegetation
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BIOTROPIA No. 2, 1988/1989
Amblyomma babirussae (19) Dermacentor (I.)
steini Schulze (19)
5. By 'Lake' (0°44'N 124°27'E). Elevation, 1080-1200 m. - Ex. P.
dominator (CHSW No. 13) Haemaphysalis sp. (IN)
*L = Larvae, N = Nymphs.
The three species of adult ticks that were collected are fairly well known. Amblyomma
babirussae (Figure 1) represents part of the endemic tick fauna of
Figure 1. Amblyomma babirussae (adult female).
Sulawesi; adults are parasitic principally on larger artiodactyls and on endemic and feral pigs
(Suidae) (Anastos 1950, Keirans and Robbins 1987) while immatures are parasitic on these same
hosts and also on murids (Keirans and Robbins 1987, Van Peena et al. 1974). Adults of A.
babirussae are also known to attach to humans (Keirans and Robbins 1987). Amblyomma
cyprium (Figure 2) has a wide distribution in the Indo-Pacific region (Anastos 1950; Kohls 1957;
Wilson 1969; Marshall 1976; Kemp and Wilson 1979) with adults again parasitic largerly on wild
and feral pigs, but also on humans and cattle, and immatures on a variety of smaller hosts,
34
Figure 2. Amblyomma cyprium (adult female).
particularly murids (Kohls 1957; Kemp and Wilson 1979). Dermacentor (I.) steini
(Figure 3) has recently been redescribed by Wassef and Hoogstraal (1986) who document a
wide distribution for this species in Indo-Malaysia (including the Philippines and with
establishment on Papua New Guinea); however, they give no records for Sulawesi so the
present collections extend the documented range for this tick.
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A collection of ticks (Ixodidae)-L.A. Durden & C.H.S. Watts
Figure 3. Dermacentor (Indocentor) steini (adult female).
BIOTROPIA No. 2, 1988/1989
Dermacentor (I.) steini adults again appear to be parasitic mainly on wild and feral
pigs (Wassef and Hoogstraal 1986).
Unfortunately, adults of an undescribed species of tick probably assignable to
the genus, Amblyomma, collected by Durden (1986) as a single nymphal specimen
(Accession No. HH112,315 in the Hoogstraal tick collection is now housed at the
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA) from a murid, M.
musschen-broekii, in Sulawesi Utara, were not collected. This immature specimen is so
atypical that Hoogstraal (personal communication) could not be certain of its
taxonomic status and hopefully, future ectoparasite collections from Sulawesi will
produce adults of this fascinating tick.
Analysis of the prevalence of tick infestation from the murid species examined
shows that no ticks were taken from the 13 Bunomys fratrorum or from the 11
congeneric B. chrysocomus rats processed. The other five murid species showed
various levels of infestation. Rattus hoffmanni (n = 10) showed a collective tick
(three genera represented) prevalence of 40% and a mean intensity of 3.0 ticks per
infested animal. The other murid species had the following comparable infestation
figures:
R. xanthurus (n = 7)(1 tick genus), 14.3%, 2.0;
P. dominator (N = 16)(2 tick genera), 31.3%, 3.4;
M. musschenbroekii (n = 17)(3 tick genera), 23.5%, 4.8;
M. hellwaldii (n = 11)(1 tick genus), 9.1%, 4.0.
The main difference between these data and those of Durden (1986) is that, in
this study, no Dermacentor (Indocentor) sp. ticks were collected from murids. In the
earlier survey, B. fratrorum and especially M. musschenbroekii were quite heavily
infested by ticks of this subgenus; this difference could reflect a seasonal influence.
Another difference, possibly attributable to phenology, is the presence of Ixodes sp.
immatures from murids trapped in the lowland forests (200-300 m elevation) of
Dumoga-Bone National Park in this collection; Durden (1986) did not record this
genus from murids from comparable elevations in this forest. The earlier collection
(Durden 1986) was made from January to March, 1985, during the latter part of the
monsoon season (although heavy rains were not as concentrated into this season as
is typical for much of Southeast Asia).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Deep gratitude is extended to Dr. I.E. Keirans who identified the ticks de-
scribed here and to Dr. G.G. Musser for confirming host identities. Appreciation is
also extended to R.G. Robbins for cataloguing ticks, to Dr. N.A. Wilson for sup-
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A collection of ticks (Ixodidae)-L.A. Durden & C.H.S. Watts
plying separates and to the late Dr. H. Hoogstraal for his personal communications and
earlier tick identifications. This research was undertaken as part of Project Wallace
organized by the Royal Entomological Society of London and the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (Results of Project Wallace No. 30).
REFERENCES
ANASTOS, G., 1950. The scutate ticks, or Ixodidae, of Indonesia. Entomol. Am., 30: 1.
DURDEN, L.A., 1986. Ectoparasites and other arthropod associates of tropical rain forest mammals in
Sulawesi Utara, Indonesia. Nat. Geogr. Res., 2: 320.
KEMP, D.H. and WILSON, N.A., 1979. The occurrence of Amblyomma cyprium (Acari; Ixodidae) in
Australia, with additional records from the Southwest Pacific. Pac. Insects, 21: 224.
KOHLS, G.M., 1957. Insects of Micronesia. Acarina: Ixodoidea. Insects Micronesia, 3: 85.
MARSHALL, A.G., 1976. Host specificity amongst arthropods ectoparasitic upon mammals and birds
in the New Hebrides. Ecol. Entomol., 1: 189.
VAN PEENAN, P.F.D., CARNEY, W.P., SUDOMO, M. and SULIANTI SAROSO, J., 1974. Parasites of
mammals in Gumbasa valley, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Trop. Geogr. Med., 26: 352.
WASSEF, H.Y. and HOOGSTRAAL, H., 1986. Dermacentor (Indocentor) steini (Acari: Ixodidae):
Identity of male and female. J. Med. Entomol., 23: 532.
WILSON, N.A., 1969. Ticks (Metastigmata: Ixodidae) collected by the Noona Dan expedition to the
Philippine and Bismarck archipelagos. Entomol. Med., 37: 285.
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