Ixodes Bishoppi, a New Species from Georgia (Acarina: Ixodidae)

Abstract

In the course of routine examinations of birds and mammals captured at Savannah, Ga., the authors collected numerous specimens of a new species of tick, Ixodes bishoppi . The species is related to I. minor Neum. and I. muris Bishopp and Smith, and has similar host relationships. The larvae and nymphs were fairly common on cotton rats, Sigmodon hispidus hispidus Say and Ord., and were occasionally found on birds. Of 56 cotton rats examined 40 were infested, carrying a total of 191 larvae and 40 nymphs. Of numerous birds of various species examined 3 were infested; a house wren, Troglodytes aedon aedon (Vieill.), with 5 larvae and 1 nymph, a house wren with 8 larvae, and a towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus (Linn.), with 6 larvae and 2 nymphs. One of several house mice, Mus musculus musculus Linn., caught in a grassy field was infested with 2 larvae. Of 13 cottontail rabbits, Sylvilagus floridanus ssp., only 1 was infested, carrying a single nymph. Adult ticks were collected only twice, in each instance from a cotton rat. One rat was infested with 1 male and 7 females, the other with a single female. Numerous males and females, including the types, were reared from specimens collected as larvae or nymphs.