{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,11]],"date-time":"2026-10-11T18:46:30Z","timestamp":1791744390508,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":96,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,5]],"date-time":"2024-07-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1720137600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["82160400"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82160400"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["202102AA310055-X"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202102AA310055-X"]}]},{"name":"Major Science and Technique Programs in Yunnan Province","award":["82160400"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82160400"]}]},{"name":"Major Science and Technique Programs in Yunnan Province","award":["202102AA310055-X"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202102AA310055-X"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Insects"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Leptotrombidium imphalum is a species of chigger mites, and it can serve as a transmitting vector of scrub typhus. Southwest China is an important focus of scrub typhus. Based on the field investigation in southwest China from 2001 to 2022, this article presents the first report on the distribution and infestation of L. imphalum on rodents and other sympatric small mammals in the region. A total of 2161 L. imphalum were identified from 218 small mammal hosts in 21 of 114 survey sites. The 17 host species of L. imphalum crossed 13 genera and 5 families in 3 orders (Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Scandentia), indicating the low host specificity of the mite. The Asian house rat (Rattus tanezumi) was the dominant host species in the 21 sites where L. imphalum were collected, and 49.38% of mites were found on R. tanezumi. Different small mammals had different susceptibility to the infestation of L. imphalum. The prevalence (PM = 27.66%), infestation mean abundance (MA = 6 mites\/per examined host), and mean intensity (MI = 21.69 mites\/per infested host) for L. imphalum on the shrew gymnure (Neotetracus sinensis) were much higher than those on other host species (p &lt; 0.05), indicating N. sinensis had a high susceptibility to the infestation of L. imphalum. The infestation indices for L. imphalum on small mammal hosts varied along different altitude and latitude gradients (p &lt; 0.05), indicating the environmental heterogeneity of the mite infestation. Leptotrombidium imphalum exhibited an aggregated distribution among different individuals of its hosts. Besides the low host specificity of L. imphalum, the prevalence of the mite was positively correlated with the occurrence of scrub typhus, indicating the potential risk of the mite.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/insects15070504","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,5]],"date-time":"2024-07-05T12:30:59Z","timestamp":1720182659000},"page":"504","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["The Distribution and Host-Association of the Vector Chigger Species Leptotrombidium imphalum in Southwest China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Qiao-Yi","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Dali University, Dali 671000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rong","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Dali University, Dali 671000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen-Yu","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Dali University, Dali 671000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pei-Ying","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Microbiology, Qujing Medical College, Qujing 655100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ya-Fei","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Dali University, Dali 671000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dao-Chao","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xian-Guo","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Pathogens and Vectors, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Dali University, Dali 671000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"103","article-title":"Chigger mites (Actinotrichida: Parasitengona, Trombiculidae) of Poland. 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