Tick findings from subterranean environments in the Central German Uplands and Luxembourg reveal a predominance of male Ixodes hexagonus

Abstract

Questing ticks are usually collected by flagging or dragging. Mostly exophilic tick species are caught, such as Ixodes ricinus, the most common tick in Central Europe. In the present study, ticks collected from underground environments in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and in the Central German Uplands (Federal States of Hesse, Bavaria, Thuringia, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Northrhine-Westphalia) were investigated. Six tick species were revealed among the 396 analyzed specimens: Ixodes ariadnae, Ixodes canisuga, Ixodes hexagonus, I. ricinus, Ixodes trianguliceps, and Dermacentor marginatus. Adults and immatures of I. hexagonus dominated the findings (57% of all specimens), especially in shelters acting as potential resting places of main hosts. Ixodes canisuga and I. trianguliceps were for the first time recorded in Luxembourg, and one nymph of the bat tick I. ariadnae represents only the second report for Germany. Collecting ticks in subterranean environments turned out to be a useful approach to increase knowledge about the occurrence of relatively rare tick species, including those that spend most of their lifetime on their hosts, but detach in such environmental settings.