Patterns of distributional congruence of rodent ectoparasites in Iran: A first approach

Rodents represent the most diverse mammalian group and are considered important hosts for different groups of parasites, serving as vectors for some zoonotic agents. Although there have been numerous studies conducted on occurrence records of ectoparasites on rodents, there is a paucity of knowledge regarding the biogeographical patterns of ectoparasites on this group of small mammals. In this study, a quantitative approach was employed to identify patterns of distributional congruence (PDCs)  of ectoparasites of rodents in Iran. A total of 121 occurrence records for 37 species of ectoparasites (ticks, mites, lice, and fleas) in Iran were analyzed using endemicity analysis NDM/VNDM. Twelve consensus areas, characterized by 30 species, were found, which were grouped into three PDCs. The PDCs showed that the highest endemicity values were primarily linked to the Zagros Mountains and Central Persian areas. The patterns as a whole showed a clear tendency of the Zagros Mountains, forest steppe, and Central Persian desert basins ecoregions to provide possible areas of endemism. The current study extends the knowledge on the distribution patterns of four main groups of ectoparasites in association with rodent species in Iran and emphasizes the significance of endemic zones in controlling the management of reservoirs and vectors and conservation efforts.

Methods
This dataset contains geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) corresponding to species occurrence records or sampling points used in a biogeographic analysis. The data were collected as part of a study aimed at identifying spatial patterns of distribution.

The distributional data for the ectoparasitic fauna were provided by trapping rodents in northeastern Iran, while for the rest of the country, georeferenced records from public databases and published studies were used. To obtain data from the literature, different search engines were used to find papers, books, and records reporting on rodent ectoparasites in Iran. A combination of keywords such as ticks, mites, chiggers, lice, fleas, rodents, small mammals, parasitic infections, zoonoses, rodent-borne pathogens, and Iran were chosen to extract papers indexed in Google Scholar (www.scholar.google.com), Science Direct (www.ScienceDirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com), Web of Science (www.webofscience.com), Cochrane Collaboration (www.cochrane.org), PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), Magiran (www.magiran.com), Irandoc (www.irandoc.ac.ir), Scientific Information Database (www.sid.ir), and Integrated Digital Library (www.iingroups.com). A total of 121 occurrence records for 37 species and three subspecies of ectoparasites parasitizing rodents from Iran were analyzed, including three species of ticks (Ixodida), nine mites (five Mesostigmata, one Sarcoptiformes, three Trombidiformes), six lice (Phthiraptera), and 20 fleas (Siphonaptera).