Author(s)

Margarita Vargas-Sandoval^1*, Angel G. Priego-Santander², Alejandra Larrazábal², Carolina G. Sosa-Gutiérrez³, Blanca Lara-Chávez¹, Teresita Avila-Val¹

¹Facultad de Agrobiología “Presidente Juárez”, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Uruapan, México.
²Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, ExHacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia, México.
³Unidad de Investigación Médica de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Parasitarias, Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, México, DF, México.

Ticks are regarded as the most relevant vectors of disease-causing pathogens in domestic and wild animals. The diversity of Ixodidae is known for a very small number of genera.Ixodes are represented by 26 species, and in 2007 the first reported ticks vectors in Mexico for the causal agent of Lyme disease. Recent rise in tick-borne disease in many parts of the world is a phenomenon in need of an explanation. The main objective of the present work was to map at a regional scale (1:2,000,000) of the distribution of ticks of the family Ixodidae that are potentially present on the wild fauna of state of Michoacan, Mexico. We compiled all available literature on ticks at a national level together with complete cartographic and bibliographic georeferenced information of the distribution of hosts in order to build a spatial database in ArcView 3.3. The results indicated that the wild fauna in the state’s territory could potentially include 31 species of ticks of Ixodidae. The map of potential species richness of ixodid ticks on the wild fauna of the state can be categorized into five classes of species richness. The highest potential concentration of ixodid species on wild fauna occurs in the volcanic area of Pico de Tancítaro.

Ticks, Ixodidae, Michoacán, Geographic Distribution, Potential Species Richness

Vargas-Sandoval, M. , Priego-Santander, A. , Larrazábal, A. , Sosa-Gutiérrez, C. , Lara-Chávez, B. and Avila-Val, T. (2014) Potential Species Distribution and Richness of Ixodidae Ticks Associated with Wild Vertebrates from Michoacán, Mexico. Journal of Geographic Information System, 6, 467-477. doi: 10.4236/jgis.2014.65040.