3: Ticks in museum collections: Reptiles specimens are an untapped resource

Museum specimens are an untapped resource for tick research. Ticks are often preserved on their host species, providing data on host-tick relationships and distribution. Reptile and amphibian specimens are often preserved with ticks still attached. Ticks attach to cryptic location on reptiles and amphibians that not easily visible so they are over looked. Reptile and amphibian tick-host associations are poorly understood, and few studies have been conducted including in Florida. Florida is home 219 reptile and amphibian species, of which 64 are non-natives. Given the high diversity and numerous non-natives species in Florida we examined the composition of reptile and amphibian tick communities using the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) Herpetology Collections which contains over 287,000 reptile and amphibian specimens. We examined 12,550 specimens of 18 non-native and 14 native species in Florida. We found 333/12,550 (2.65%) of reptile and amphibian specimens had attached ticks. Native reptiles were infested with Ixodes scapularis or Ambyomma americanum.  Non-native species had fewer ticks compared to native species. Two South American ticks, Amblyomma rotundatum and A. dissimile, were found on both non-native and native species such as Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus), Cane Toads (Rhinella marina), and Cotton mouth snakes (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Our study supports that preserved museum specimens are an untapped resource in identifying new host-tick relationships in uncommonly studied host species.