Systematic & Applied Acarology
ISSN 1362-1971
An international journal of the Systematic and Applied Acarology Society, published since 1996

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Systematic & Applied Acarology (2006) 11, 13-21

Preliminary analysis of chigger communities associated with house rats (Rattus flavipectus) from six counties in Yunnan, China

XIAN-GUO GUO1*, TI-JUN QIAN1, XING-YUAN MENG1,2, WEN-GE DONG1, WU-XIANG SHI3 & DIAN WU4

1 Laboratory of Vectors and Pathogens, College of Basic Medicine, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671000, China.

E-mail: guodlmcl@public.km.yn.cn

2 Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong 515031, China.

3 College of Public Health, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671000, China.

4 College of Education Science, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671000, China.

* Corresponding author

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of chigger communities associated with the house rats (Rattus flavipectus) in six counties of Yunnan Province, China. The analysis addresses chigger species composition, infestation rates, community structure and spatial patterns, as well as interspecific relationships of dominant chigger species and species abundance distribution. The Shannon-Wiener method was used in the calculation of community structure. Patch index (m*/m) was used in measuring spatial patterns. The association coefficient was adopted in the analysis of interspecific relationships. In the six counties investigated, 451 individuals of R. flavipectus were captured and 2114 chiggers were collected from these hosts. It was common for R. flavipectus to host chiggers, and 31 chigger species were found on this species of rats. The diversity index of the chigger community was 1.63. Five dominant chigger species accounted for 91.11 % of the total chigger community, and Ascoschoengastia indica was the most abundant species. The overall mite infestation rate and overall mite index were 18.18% and 4.69, respectively. The mutual interspecific relationship between A. leechi and A. indica was determined to be a positive association (V=0.75, P<0.01). A theoretical curve for species abundance distribution was successfully fitted in a semilogarithmic rectangular system, and the species abundance of chiggers conformed to the lognormal distribution pattern. The aggregated pattern of dominant chigger species suggests an uneven distribution of chiggers among individual rat hosts.

Key words: Acari, chiggers, community, Rattus flavipectus, rodent

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