Abstract
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.
Keywords: Bat, Rodent, Mite, Chigger, Lice, Bug, Tasik Kenyir, Setiu Wetland, Off coast-islands, Terengganu, South China Sea
Specification Table
| Subject area | Biology and ecology |
| More specific subject area | Ectoparasites |
| Type of data | Table |
| Figure | |
| How data were acquired | Field sampling |
| Data format | Raw and semi-analysed. |
| Parameters for data collection | Habitat differences, bats and non-volant small mammals. |
| Description of data collection | Field samplings and capture small mammals were conducted from February 2015 to February 2016 by using standard mist nets, four-bank harp traps and baited cage traps. Small mammals were restrained in cloth bags, identified, examined for ectoparasite and released at trapping sites. Ectoparasites were removed from the host animal fur by using a fine tooth-comb. Ectoparasites dropped from combing were collected by using the wet sharpen applicator stick and preserved in vials containing 70 % ethanol and labelled separately. The ectoparasites were mounted on slides and identified according to their taxonomic groups. |
| Data source location |
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| Data accessibility | With the article |
| Related research article | Ahmad, N.I.I., The species composition and the specialisation degree of ectoparasite found infesting small mammals at Setiu, Hulu Terengganu and off coast islands of Terengganu, (MSc thesis), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 2020. [1] |
Value of the data
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The data is useful in providing the information regarding the ectoparasite species composition and the relationship among the ectoparasites with their small mammal hosts.
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The data is valuable for further research to determine whether there are any spatial and temporal changes in ectoparasites composition due to ecological disturbances or climate change.
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The data on the occurrence of the ectoparasite-vector are useful in epidemiology study to predict the potential of presence of the zoonotic disease in the studied area.
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The data also provide information on the interaction of ectoparasites and small mammal hosts in term of the degree of the specificity and distribution of each ectoparasites species.
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The data is vital for the community health and wildlife authorities to monitor the host populations near rural villages and forest edges that maybe the cause of zoonotic diseases spillover.
1. Data Description
Systematic field samplings were conducted in three different habitats that are mixed dipterocarp forest, coastal forest and insular forest of Terengganu from February 2015 to February 2016. Table 1 shows the description of 18 selected sampling sites in Terengganu. This data recorded 57 species of small mammals comprising 15 families and six orders (Supplementary Table 1). Out of 1,015 individuals small mammals examined, 289 were infested with eight groups of ectoparasites, which are bat flies, fleas, ticks, mesostigmatids, chiggers, fur mites, bugs and lice (Table 2; Supplementary Tables 2-4). The infestation of ectoparasites was then divided and arranged according to the species of small mammal hosts (Supplementary Tables 5-7).
Table 1.
List of 18 sampling sites and habitat types in Terengganu, Malaysia.
| Location | Code | Coordinate | Forest type | |
| Hulu Terengganu, Tasik Kenyir | ||||
| 1 | Tanjung Mentong | TMK | 4° 54′ 08.9" 102° 43′ 28.0" | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 2 | Sungai Buweh Waterfall | SBW | 5°08’48.0” 102°48’02.5” | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 3 | Belukar Bukit | BBK | 4°54′24.4" 102°59′08.8" | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 4 | Sekayu Waterfall | SWK | 4°57’41.4” 102°57’08.3” | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 5 | Hulu Telemong Forest Reserve | KBK | 5° 13’ 48” 102° 50’ 8.88” | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 6 | Kenyir Research Station | KRS | 05°08’59.5” 102°45’48.9 | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 7 | Belukar Bukit Waterfall | BBW | 4° 53’ 25.362” 102° 59’ 33.506” | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 8 | Taman Pertanian Sekayu | TPS | 4° 58’ 177” 102° 57’ 467” | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 9 | Kampung Kemat | PLR | 5° 00’52.2” 102° 57’ 10.409” | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 10 | Saok Waterfall | SWF | 5° 05′ 2.49" 102° 46′47.7" | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| Setiu Wetlands | ||||
| 11 | Kampung Limau Nipis | KLNS | 5° 40′ 38.779" 102° 42′ 35.092" | Coastal forest |
| 12 | Kampung Fikri | KFS | 5° 39′ 19.4" 102° 44′ 8.2" | Coastal forest |
| 13 | Kampung Gong Batu | TBS | 5° 39′ 23.1"102° 43′ 18.6" | Coastal forest |
| 14 | FRIM Setiu | FRIM | 5°33′58.9" 102°51′17.9" | Coastal forest |
| 15 | Peladang Agro | PAS | 5° 35′ 37.918" 102° 40′ 42.186" | Mixed dipterocarp forest |
| 16 | Laguna Agro | LAS | 5° 41’ 42.589” 102 ° 41’ 59.853” | Coastal forest |
| Off coast islands, South China Sea | ||||
| 17 | Pulau Bidong | PBS | 5°37’15.7” 103°03’28.2” | Island forest |
| 18 | Pulau Perhentian | PPB | 5° 54’ 9.767” 102° 45’ 21.283” | Island forest |
Table 2.
Summary of habitats, infested small mammals and ectoparasite prevalence recorded in Terengganu, Malaysia
| Habitat | Small mammals | Individual examined | Individual infested | Ectoparasite prevalence |
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| Bat flies | Fleas | Tick | Mesostigmatid | Chigger | Fur mite | Bug | Lice | |||||
| Mixed dipterocarp forest | Volant | Total no. of individuals | 396 | 103 | 75 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 1 | |
| Total no. of species | 33 | 20 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Total no. of families | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Non-volant | Total no. of individuals | 148 | 64 | 7 | 33 | 21 | 25 | 19 | 1 | |||
| Total no. of species | 18 | 13 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 1 | ||||
| Total no. of families | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Coastal forest | Volant | Total no. of individuals | 211 | 33 | 26 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | |||
| Total no. of species | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |||||
| Total no. of families | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Non-volant | Total no. of individuals | 99 | 43 | 24 | 13 | 21 | 2 | |||||
| Total no. of species | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | ||||||
| Total no. of families | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Insular forest | Volant | Total no. of individuals | 81 | 19 | 16 | 2 | ||||||
| Total no. of species | 9 | 7 | 7 | 2 | ||||||||
| Total no. of families | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||
| Non-volant | Total no. of individuals | 80 | 27 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 3 | ||||
| Total no. of species | 10 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Total no. of families | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
2. Experimental Design, Materials and Methods
Field samplings on small mammals were conducted in three different habitats in Terengganu including the mixed dipterocarp forest, coastal forest and insular forest off coast islands from February 2015 until February 2016. The description of these habitats has been described by [2], [3]. A total of 10 standard mist-nets and two sets of four-bank harp trap, and 100 cages baited traps were used to capture bats and non-volant small mammals, respectively [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. The captured small mammals were identified, and standard morphological measurements and weights were recorded. Then the samples were sorted to live sample or voucher species to enable appropriate ectoparasite extracting method to be used.
A fine tooth-comb was used to remove all the ectoparasite that attached on the host animal coat. Ectoparasite dropped during combing were collected by using the wet sharpen applicator stick and preserved in the collecting vials containing 70 % ethanol separately for each host small mammals. The vials were labelled with sufficient information and brought back to the laboratory for species identification. The ectoparasites were prepared for mounting on slide and identified according to their taxonomic groups which are mesotigmatid mite [9,10], chiggers [11,12], ticks [13] and insect ectoparasite (fleas, lice and bat flies) [14,15]. The degree of specialisation among ectoparasite species was analysed using R version 3.3.2 (R core team 2016) and the package bipartite 2.08 [16] following [17].
Acknowledgements
The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and the staff of the Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development provided administrative and logistic supports throughout this study. The Department of Wildlife and National Park (DWNP) Peninsular Malaysia (T-00371-16-16), the Central Terengganu Development Authority (KETENGAH) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia had granted us permission and research permits. The Ministry of Education Trans-disciplinary Research Grant Scheme (TRGS/2015/59373), UMT Kenyir Geopark Development Research Grant (KGDR/53167) and UMT Geran Galakan Penyelidikan (GGP/68007/2014/127) funded throughout field sampling and awarded to M.T. Abdullah and colleagues. The Centre for Research and Innovation Management UMT funded the publication of this data article.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Footnotes
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.dib.2020.105621.
Contributor Information
Muhamad Aidil Zahidin, Email: aiditarsier@gmail.com.
Mohd Tajuddin Abdullah, Email: mohd.tajuddin@umt.edu.my.
Appendix. Supplementary materials
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