Species Diversity of Ectoparasites recovered from Small Mammals (i. e. Rodents and Scandents) at Selected Urban Areas and Forested Areas in Sarawak

Tan Jin, Kiet (2017) Species Diversity of Ectoparasites recovered from Small Mammals (i. e. Rodents and Scandents) at Selected Urban Areas and Forested Areas in Sarawak. [Final Year Project Report] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The arthropod ectoparasites of rodents are serving as important vectors of pathogenic microorganisms and for parasitic zoonoses like babesiosis, plague and others. However, there is lack of study of species diversity on ectoparasites from small mammals especially from rodents and scandents. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the species diversity of ectoparasites recovered from forested area (undisturbed area) and urban area (disturbed area) in Malaysian Borneo. Selected forested areas from Bau include Dered Krian National Park, Kampung Bowang and Kampung Barieng. Tabuan, Taman Budaya and Third Miles were selected as urban sampling site in this study. Throughout this study, a total of 56 individuals of small mammals captured from 13 species of small mammals were recovered from three selected sites of forested and urban areas. A total 49 out of 56 individuals were infested with ectoparasites (87.5% infestation) and the most predominant ectoparasitesinfested small mammal host species was Sundamys muelleri. From these 49 infested small mammals, a total of 1628 individuals of ectoparasites collected were from ticks, mites and lice. The most abundant and common ectoparasites recovered were Laelaps echidninus (n=1253), Hoplopleura sp. (n=128) and Ixodes granulates (n=79). The ectoparasites species diversity was observed to be the higher in forested area which was Dered Krian National Park due to its higher relative humidity which provides suitable microhabitat to ectoparasites. Comparison of ectoparasites composition from forested areas (undisturbed habitat) and urban areas (disturbed habitat) showed no significant different in the ectoparasites species diversity (t= 0.4536; p>0.05), therefore, null hypothesis (H(, ) is accepted. The findings from this study can provide future studies and knowledge which insight on diversity and abundance in distribution of ectopasites at selected forested areas and urban areas in Malaysian Borneo.

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