A survey of ectoparasites on domestic cat (felis catus linnaeus, 1758) from rural and urban area

A survey of ectoparasites on domestic cats from two different habitats has been conducted in six different locations from October 2012 to March 2013. A total 69 of domestic cats have been examined for the presence of ectoparasites, comprising 34 from urban habitat and 35 from rural habitat. Thirty six (52.1%) domestic cats have been discovered to be infested with at least one species of ectoparasites. Eight species of ectoparasites manage to be collected throughout the study. Felicola subrostrata (21.7%) is the common ectoparasite recovered from the infested host. Listophorid mites (14.5%) show the high infestation on domestic cat from rural habitat. Sarcoptes scabiei (10.1%), Notoedes cati (8.7%), Ctenocephalides felis (7.2%) infested the both rural and urban domestic cat with the quite similar rate of infestation. Meanwhile, Heterodoxus spiniger (2.9%) and other two species of Ixodid tick, which both show 1.4% of infestation rate only found on the urban domestic cats. However, S. scabiei and C. felis are the only ectoparasites species among that have been found are important in medical point of view. There is significant different in species diversity (χ2 =38.29, p=0.00), as urban habitat show the higher number of ectoparasite species compared to the rural habitat

Data on ectoparasites infestation on small mammals from different habitats in east-coast Peninsular Malaysia

This data article presents on the ectoparasites infestation on small mammals in Peninsular Malaysia. The dataset on ectoparasites infestation is important because it raises a major medical concern regarding the spread of potentially zoonotic disease from wildlife to human. Tick and chigger are the primary ectoparasites as reservoirs of vector-borne diseases found on small mammals in Malaysia. These small mammals that are infested with ectoparasites occupy various types of habitats, including human settlements, could be of community health risks as the carriers of potentially zoonotic diseases. Field samplings were conducted from February 2015 to February 2016 in three different ecological habitats of mixed dipterocarp forest, coastal forest and insular forest, in Terengganu, Malaysia. A total of 35 and 22 species of bats and rodents respectively were captured and examined for ectoparasites. Twenty-three species of bats and 16 species of small mammal were recorded as hosts for at least one species of ectoparasites. These findings show that the highest ectoparasite infestation occurred on bat community