Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ttbdis Original article Detected microorganisms and new geographic records of Ornithodoros rietcorreai (Acari: Argasidae) from northern Brazil Sebastián Muñoz-Leal a , Catarina Macedo b , Teresa Cristina Gonçalves b , Jairo Dias Barreira c , Marcelo B. Labruna a , Elba Regina Sampaio de Lemos d , Maria Ogrzewalska d, ⁎ a Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, SP, Brazil b Laboratório de Transmissores de Leishmanioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil c Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil d Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Tick Rickettsia Hepatozoon Ornithodoros Argasidae ABSTRACT Reliable data on distributional ranges of soft ticks (Argasidae) and assessments of putative tick-borne agents enhance the understanding on tick-associated microorganisms. A total of 96 ticks morphologicaly and mole- cularly identified as Ornithodoros rietcorreai were collected in Tocantins State, Brazil, using Noireau traps with living bait as CO2 source. Ninety-six ticks (54 nymphs, 32 males, 10 females) with different engorgement de- grees were collected. Fourty-seven (48.9%) of them were individually screened by PCR for detecting bacteria of Anaplasmataceae family and genera Rickettsia, and Borrelia. The presence of protozoans of the genus Babesia was assessed as well. Fourty seven ticks were submitted to analysis. Nine ticks (19.1%) yielded sequences for gltA and htrA genes most identical with a series of endosymbiont rickettsiae and Rickettsia bellii, respectively. Upon two ticks (4.2%) we retrieved DNA of a potential new Wolbachia sp., and DNA of a putative novel Hepatozoon was characterized from three (6.4%) specimens. No DNA of Babesia or Borrelia was detected. Remarkably, amplicons of unidentified eukaryotic organisms, most closely related with apicomplexans but also with dinoflagellates (91% of identity after BLAST analyses), were recovered from two ticks (4.2%) using primers designed for Babesia 18S rRNA gene. Our records expand the distribution of O. rietcorreai into Brazilian Cerrado biome and introduce the occurrence of microorganisms in this tick species. 1. Introduction Soft ticks (Argasidae) are blood-feeding parasites associated with all classes of terrestrial volant and non-volant vertebrates (Hoogstraal, 1985). In contrast to hard ticks (Ixodidae), phylogeny and taxonomic classification of these ticks remain incompletely solved, resulting in different systematic approaches that lead several species to be assigned into more than one genus (Estrada-Pena et al., 2010; Guglielmone et al., 2010). In the Neotropical Zoogeographical Region 93 species represent this family of ticks, and 26 have been reported in Brazil (Guglielmone et al., 2003; Dantas-Torres et al., 2009; Muñoz-Leal et al., 2018b). Al- though in last 15 years South American fauna of soft ticks has gained increasing attention collections are still insufficient, a fact that directly underestimates both their geographic distribution and diversity. Ornithodoros rietcorreai was described upon laboratory-reared larvae and adult specimens collected underneath rocks frequented by rodents (i.e. Kerodon rupestris) and bats (Labruna et al., 2016). Recent records point that this tick is also associated with reptiles (Alcantara et al., 2018). While current geographical distribution includes wild arid eco- systems from the Caatinga biome of Paraiba, Piauí and Ceará states (northeastern Brazil) (Labruna et al., 2016; Alcantara et al., 2018), this species might eventually colonize human dwellings and cause toxicosis after its bite (Oliveira et al., 2018; Muñoz-Leal et al., 2019). Despite representing a human parasite, data on microorganisms harbored by O. rietcorreai do not exist. A number of viruses and bacterial agents causing severe disease in humans and animals are currently known to be transmitted by argasid ticks worldwide (Schmidtmann et al., 1976; Hoogstraal, 1985; Labuda and Nuttall, 2004). With the exception of few experimental evidence pointing that soft ticks (i.e. Ornithodoros parkeri) can transmit Rickettsia rickettsii to laboratory mammals (Davis, 1943), and the recognized role of Ornithodoros coriaceus as the vector of the epizootic bovine abortion https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.04.004 Received 10 October 2018; Received in revised form 27 March 2019; Accepted 8 April 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Pavilhão Helio e Peggy Pereira - 1 andar, Sala B115, Av. Brasil 4365, Manguinhos, CEP 21040-360, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. E-mail address: maria.ogrzewalska@ioc.fiocruz.br (M. Ogrzewalska). Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 1877-959X/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier GmbH. Please cite this article as: Sebastián Muñoz-Leal, et al., Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.04.004