The present work aimed to analyze the ectoparasite-host interaction network and possible differences of this interaction related to two seasonal periods and host sex. During November 2016 and July 2017, non-flying small mammals were captured in 17 forest fragments located in the southern portion of the Amazon biome. We captured 96 individuals belonging to 10 host species that were parasitized with a total of 3668 ectoparasites. Overall, we identified 24 ectoparasite taxa belonging to the mite and insect groups Ixodida (ticks), Mesostigmata, Sarcoptiformes, Trombidiformes (mites), Phthiraptera (lice), and Siphonaptera (fleas). The interaction network between all ectoparasites and hosts showed significant deviation from random, with moderately high specialization index (H2′ = 0.80). There was seasonal difference in prevalence for Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius) sensu stricto (s.s), Amblyomma coelebs Neumann and larvae of Amblyomma. This difference was also found in the mean intensity of infestation of Amblyomma larvae and the mite Tur aragaoi (Fonseca). Only mean intensity of infestation differed in relation to host sex for the species Marmosa constantiae Thomas. Our results demonstrate that specificity between ectoparasites and small mammals in this region is moderately high and that the pattern of aggregation of some ectoparasite taxa differed between two seasons, as well as between sexes in M. constantiae.

中文翻译：

---

南部亚马逊河零散地区的小型哺乳动物的寄生虫：相互作用网络及其与季节性和寄主性别的相关性。

本工作旨在分析体外寄生虫-宿主相互作用网络以及这种相互作用与两个季节和宿主性别有关的可能差异。在2016年11月和2017年7月，非飞行小型哺乳动物被捕获在亚马逊生物群落南部的17个森林碎片中。我们捕获了属于10个宿主物种的96个个体，这些个体被寄生共3668种寄生虫。总体而言，我们确定了24种寄生虫类群，它们分别属于螨虫和昆虫类：x科（Me科），食口目，萨科形目，盘状目（mites），Phthiraptera（虱）和Siphonaptera（跳蚤）。所有体外寄生虫与宿主之间的相互作用网络均表现出明显的随机性偏离，专业化指数较高（H2' = 0.80）。有在流行季节差异花蜱cajennense（法氏囊）狭义（SS），花蜱coelebs诺依曼和幼虫花蜱。在Amblyomm a幼虫和螨Tur aragaoi（Fonseca）的平均侵染强度中也发现了这种差异。Marmosa constantiae Thomas物种的平均侵染强度与寄主性别有关。我们的研究结果表明在该地区体外寄生虫和小型哺乳动物之间的特异性是适度高，两个赛季之间的一些不同类群外寄生虫聚集的格局，以及男女之间M. constantiae。