Immature Ixodes dammini (acari: Ixodidae) on small animals in Connecticut, USA.

Abstract

More than 10,000 Ixodes dammini ticks, a species associated with human babesiosis and Lyme disease, were collected from 1800 birds (6 species) and mammals (22 species) in 4 plant communities at the Burnham Brook Preserve, East Haddam, Connecticut, USA, during 1979 and 1980. Peromyscus leucopus, Clethrionomys gapperi, Blarina brevicauda, Sciurus carolinensis, Procyon lotor, Tamias striatus , and Napaeozapus insignis were the most commonly collected species and constituted 95% of the small mammals, with P. leucopus accounting for nearly ½ of the captures. Larval I. dammini ticks were most abundant on S. carolinensis and P. leucopus , while C. gapperi harbored the fewest. S. carolinensis, T. striatus , and P. lotor were most heavily infested with nymphs, and B. brevicauda, C. gapperi , and N. insignis carried the fewest. Both larvae and nymphs were taken in approximately equal numbers on P. leucopus and B. brevicauda in each of the 4 plant communities sampled. Larvae were most abundant from April dirough October, with peaks in June and again in August through October; nymphs were encountered from April through October, with a larger peak in June and a smaller one in September. Both larvae and nymphs were taken in approximately equal numbers on juvenile and adult P. leucopus ; males were more heavily infested than were females. A total of 1440 ticks of 6 additional species were also collected from the mammals. Dermacentor variabilis was the most abundant of these species, followed by I. texanus, I. cookei, I. dentatus, I. marxi , and Haemaphysalis leporispalustris . Arboviruses were not recovered from 7902 I. dammini ticks tested in suckling mice, nor were rickettsiae isolated from 1246 nymphs and adults tested in guinea pigs