Article: Hard Ticks (Ixodidae) from Wildlife in Liguria, Northwest Italy: Tick Species Diversity and Tick-Host Associations
Insects. 2022 Feb. 14, v. 13, no. 2
2022
Abstract: Hard ticks’ geographical distribution and abundance are influenced by wildlife population. This work presents the results of the identification of ticks retrieved from wild animals in the framework of a Regional Plan of Monitoring and Surveillance of ... ...
| Abstract | Hard ticks’ geographical distribution and abundance are influenced by wildlife population. This work presents the results of the identification of ticks retrieved from wild animals in the framework of a Regional Plan of Monitoring and Surveillance of Wildlife health. The frequency of distribution of ticks in different hosts and their geographical patterns were also investigated. Ticks were collected from game animals (Sus scrofa, Capreolus capreolus, Dama dama, and Rupicapra rupicapra) during two hunting seasons (2018–2019 and 2019–2020) in the four provinces of the Liguria region in northwest Italy. In the same period, ticks were also collected from carcasses of Vulpes vulpes, Canis lupus, Meles meles, and Asio otus received for necropsy. Tick species were identified according to taxonomic keys. A total of 819 ticks, removed from 259 animals, were found and identified. Overall, Ixodes ricinus was the dominant species (62.6%), followed by Dermacentor marginatus (24.5%), Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. (12.5%), Haemaphysalis punctata (0.2%), and Ixodes hexagonus (0.1%). I. ricinus was also the prevalent species in roe deer and in fallow deer and the only species collected from the three wolf carcasses examined. In contrast, D. marginatus was the dominant species in S. scrofa. This last tick species was also more frequent in one province (Imperia), whereas Ixodes spp. were more common in another one (Savona). Wild animals proved to be useful for characterizing and monitoring tick population. |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Asio otus ; Canis lupus ; Capreolus capreolus ; Cervus dama ; Dermacentor marginatus ; Haemaphysalis punctata ; Ixodes hexagonus ; Ixodes ricinus ; Meles meles ; Rhipicephalus sanguineus ; Sus scrofa ; Vulpes vulpes ; chamois ; dominant species ; geographical distribution ; monitoring ; necropsy ; species diversity ; ticks ; wildlife ; wolves ; Italy |
| Language | English |
| Dates of publication | 2022-0214 |
| Publishing place | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| Document type | Article |
| ZDB-ID | 2662247-6 |
| ISSN | 2075-4450 |
| ISSN | 2075-4450 |
| DOI | 10.3390/insects13020199 |
| Database | NAL-Catalogue (AGRICOLA) |
More links
Kategorien
Order via subito
This service is chargeable due to the Delivery terms set by subito. Orders including an article and supplementary material will be classified as separate orders. In these cases, fees will be demanded for each order.