Six hundred and sixty-five specimens of Argas miniatus were collected in two municipalities of Bahia and Minas Gerais states, Brazil. Five hundred and ninety-six (89.6%) of them had fed and 489 (82%) of them reacted to only one type of blood, including birds (46.8%), rodents (30.9%), opossuns (14.5%), bovines (4.3%) and horses (3.5%). In that reaction, the type of mammal blood was detected in 53.2% (260/489) of the ticks. Multiple reactions were observed in 107 (17.9%) ticks, with blood of birds present in 84.1% (90/107), while the blood of mammals was detected in 100% (107/107). The results point for the nonspecificity of parasitism.
tick; Argas; host specificity; precipitin
