The permissive “rabbit-tick”
The geographical distribution of I. ventalloi includes areas of western Mediterranean Europe (Portugal, Spain, Southern France, Central and Southern Italy, and Cyprus) and Northern Africa (Marroco and Tunisia) [14, 21].
This tick species was also documented in Great Britain (Channel Islands, Lundy Island, and Isles of Scilly) and in southwest Germany, probably as the result of introductions,| Host order and species | Tick stage/sex | Country (or region) | References |
| Birds | |||
| Strigiformes | |||
| Asioflammeus | F, M, N | Portugal | [9] |
| Asio otus | F | Great Britain | [16]a, [27] |
| Athene noctua | F | Spain, | [15] |
| Tyto alba | N | Portugal | [11] |
| Galliformes | |||
| Alectoris chukar | ND | Cyprus | [31] |
| Alectoris rufa | F(+) | France, Italy | [16]b, [32] |
| Phasianus colchicus | F(+) | France, Italy, North Africa | [16]c, [32] |
| Passeriformes | |||
| Pica pica | F | France | [16]b |
| Turdus merula | N | Great Britain, Portugal | [23, 33] |
| Turdus pilaris | F | France | [16]b |
| Gruiformes | |||
| Rallus aquaticus | ND | Italy | [32] |
| Mammals | |||
| Lagomorpha | |||
| Lepus europaeus | F(+) | Cyprus, other European regions | [16]e, [31] |
| Oryctolagus cuniculus | F, M, N, L | France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, North Africa | [7], [16]d[17, 18], [26]i, [23, 27-30] |
| Rodentia | |||
| Apodemus sylvaticus | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| F, N, L | Morocco, Portugal | [7], [26]i | |
| Gerbillus campestris | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| Hystrix cristata | ND | Italy | [34] |
| Lemniscomys barbarus | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| Mus spretus | F, N, L | Morocco, Portugal | [7], [26]i |
| Rattus rattus | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| Rattus norvegicus | N | Portugal | [11] |
| Sciurus vulgaris | F | Northern Africa | [16]f |
| Eulipotyphla | |||
| Crocidura russula | N | Portugal | [7] |
| Erinaceus europaeus | F, M, N | Portugal, Spain and North Africa | [6], [16]f, [35] |
| Carnivora | |||
| Canisfamiliaris | F | Portugal | [11] |
| Felis catus | F, M, N | France, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, North Africa | [8, 10, 11, 13], [16]h, [27, 32, 36], [37] |
| Genetta genetta | F, M | Spain, other European regions | [16]g, [38] |
| Herpestes ichneumon | F, M | Spain | [38, 39] |
| Host order and species | Tick stage/sex | Country (or region) | References |
| Lynx pardinus | F, M | Spain | [38, 39] |
| Carnivora | |||
| Martesfoina | F | France | [16]b |
| Meles meles | F | France | [16]b |
| Mustela nivalis | F, M, N, L | Portugal | [7, 11] |
| Mustela n. numidica | Im | Morocco | [26][1] [2] |
| Vulpes vulpes | F, M, Im | Cyprus, Morocco Portugal, Spain | [6], [26]i, [31, 38-40] |
| Primata | |||
| Homo sapiens | F(+) | France, Italy, Portugal | [16]b, [41-44] |
| Reptiles | |||
| Squamata | |||
| Agama impalearis | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| Chalcides polylepis | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| Eumeces algeriensis | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
| Psammodromus algirus | Im | Morocco | [26]i |
ND—No detail is provided regarding sex/stage of the collected tick(s); Im—Immature(s) stage(s) not detailed;
F—Female(s); F(+)—Female(s) and possible other specimens as information regarding sex/stage is not detailed in all references; M—Male(s); N—Nymph(s); L—Larva(e).
a~hIn Gilot and Perez [16], the country or geographical regions was deduced based on the authors’ descriptions of the origin of I. ventalloi specimens. aThompson collection. bGilot collection. cGilot and Morel collection. ciGilot, Morel, Institute Pasteur and Clifford collections. eInstitute Pasteur collection. ?Morel collection. gNeumann collection. bGilot, Morel and Thompson collections.
lBailly-Choumara et al. [26] list of the Moroccan host is used with reservations since it was published prior to the differentiation of I. Ventalloifrom I. festai. In any case, the authors were aware about the synonymy of I. ventalloi and I. festai sensu Arthur. Moreover, I.festai is also listed butplaced apartfrom I. ventalloi. areas where it occurs and in some cases described as the predominant tick species found on this host [8, 10, 11, 13, 27, 32, 36, 37]. Cat parasitism by I. ventalloi might be explained by the host free-roaming and hunting habits that place them in close contact with the ground and low vegetation when ambushing small animals. Although I. ventalloi is regarded as having a limited potential for dispersal, it can be found actively seeking for hosts at the ground level. This was proven by us in previous studies, when dragging vegetation and grassy ground resulted in the collection of 175 questing I. ventalloi, including nymphs, males and females [8-12]. The same result was recently obtained by Torina et al. [45] that have collected 1425 questing I. ventalloi, including all tick stages, by dragging vegetation in Palermo’s areas during a 2-year study.
The particular association of cats to I. ventalloi may contribute to bring this tick to domestic environments and to promote human exposure. In fact, I. ventalloi has long been listed as a human-biting tick [16, 41]. In Portugal, the authors recorded the first case of human parasitism by this species in 2014, on behalf of the Surveillance Network for Vectors and Vector-borne Diseases (REVIVE), and keep documenting it every year since then [44, 46]. Although I. ventalloi represents a small percentage (less than 1%) of the species found feeding on humans, it is under the scope for potential infections by human pathogens [44, 46]. The increasing number of agents associated to this species in recent years brought back the question regarding the I. ventalloi public health relevance.
4.