Cave mites of Brazil: morphological and molecular studies, pathogen monitoring and geographic distribution

• Grant number: 24/14248-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Bassini Silva
• Grantee: Ricardo Bassini Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Antonio Domingos Brescovit ; Ashley P. G. Dowling ; Darci Moraes Barros-Battesti ; Fernando de Castro Jacinavicius ; Robson de Almeida Zampaulo ; Ronald A Ochoa

Abstract

Caves are natural underground cavities with spaces that generally exhibit continuity with the external environment, with a fragile and delicate environment inside, sheltering several endemic species. In Brazil, little is known about the cave fauna, with some studies even describing families and few species described in national soil. In addition, little is known about the role of these mites in the ecology and epidemiology of these very different and little studied environments. This project proposes a detailed study of the identification of these mites deposited in acarological collections, and concomitantly, the material from the tissue banks that exist in these collections will be examined and subjected to DNA extraction, as well as the investigation of the presence of pathogens in the mites investigated by means of real-time and conventional PCR assays, and phylogenetic analyses. Thus, morphological and molecular studies will be important to define the validity of the species already recorded, or to describe new species for these environments, and to understand the geographic distribution of these mites. Considering that there are many genera with few taxa included in each one and others that need to be revised. On the other hand, genetic sequencing will also make it possible to solve problems of genera or even species complexes, and will support future phylogenetic studies of this group. (AU)