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. 2013 Jul 19;8(7):e69793.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069793. Print 2013.

Characterization of Haemaphysalis flava (Acari: Ixodidae) from Qingling subspecies of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) in Qinling Mountains (Central China) by morphology and molecular markers

Wen-yu Cheng  1 , Guang-hui Zhao, Yan-qing Jia, Qing-qing Bian, Shuai-zhi Du, Yan-qing Fang, Mao-zhen Qi, San-ke Yu
Affiliations

Characterization of Haemaphysalis flava (Acari: Ixodidae) from Qingling subspecies of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) in Qinling Mountains (Central China) by morphology and molecular markers

Wen-yu Cheng et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Tick is one of important ectoparasites capable of causing direct damage to their hosts and also acts as vectors of relevant infectious agents. In the present study, the taxa of 10 ticks, collected from Qinling giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) in Qinling Mountains of China in April 2010, were determined using morphology and molecular markers (nucleotide ITS2 rDNA and mitochondrial 16S). Microscopic observation demonstrated that the morphological features of these ticks were similar to Haemaphysalis flava. Compared with other Haemaphysalis species, genetic variations between Haemaphysalis collected from A. m. qinlingensis and H. flava were the lowest in ITS2 rDNA and mitochondrial 16S, with sequence differences of 2.06%-2.40% and 1.30%-4.70%, respectively. Phylogenetic relationships showed that all the Haemaphysalis collected from A. m. qinlingensis were grouped with H. flava, further confirmed that the Haemaphysalis sp. is H. flava. This is the first report of ticks in giant panda by combining with morphology and molecular markers. This study also provided evidence that combining morphology and molecular tools provide a valuable and efficient tool for tick identification.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Sampling sites for ticks (asterisk) and distributions of giant pandas (black color) in China.
QinL, Qinling Mountains; MS, Minshan Mountains; QiongL, Qionglai Mountains; DXL, Daxiangling Mountains; XXL, Xiaoxiangling Mountains; LS, Liangshan Mountains.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Phylogenetic relationships of ticks isolated from giant pandas with Haemaphysalis spp.
The Dermacentor andersoni was as the outgroup. Phylogenetic analysis was based on ITS2 rDNA (A) and mitochondrial 16S (B) sequences using maximum parsimony (MP) method. The consensus tree was obtained after bootstrap analysis with 1000 bootstrap replicates, with values above 50% reported.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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