A comparative evaluation of northern and southern Ixodes scapularis questing height and hiding behaviour in the USA.
A comparative evaluation of northern and southern Ixodes scapularis questing height and hiding behaviour in the USA.
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DOI：
10.1017/s003118202000147x
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发表时间：
2020-11
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Medina RF
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Tietjen M;Esteve-Gasent MD;Li AY;Medina RF
壁虱有一种独特的寻找宿主的行为，叫做寻找。有人提出，肩突硬蜱的探索行为解释了美国东部莱姆病（LD）风险的地理差异，因为北方人群比南方人群更经常探索。探索行为发生的高度是可变的，本研究旨在描述I。肩胛肌从北方和南方州（即马里兰州和德克萨斯州）采集蜱虫，并进行生物测定。我们报告说，来自得克萨斯州的乌鸦在较低的高度相比，来自马里兰州的乌鸦。此外，只有得克萨斯州的黑猩猩表现出一种我们称之为“隐藏行为”的行为。这些结果可能反映了这两个地区的宿主组成不同，因为南部有更丰富的蜥蜴。相比之下，有没有显着差异，在马里兰州成年人和得克萨斯州的成年人，这是预期的，因为成年人在这两个地点的白尾鹿喂养的探索高度。如果所有的南岛。肩胛肌的活动高度较低，这可能使它们不太可能与人类接触，这可能导致LD患病率的地理差异。
Ticks display a distinct type of host-seeking behavior called questing. It has been proposed that the questing behavior of Ixodes scapularis explains the geographic variation in Lyme disease (LD) risk in the eastern US because the northern population has been shown to quest more often than the southern population. The height at which questing occurs is variable and this study aimed to characterize questing height for I. scapularis. Ticks were collected from a northern and southern state (i.e. Maryland and Texas) and bioassays were conducted. We report that nymphs from Texas quested at lower heights compared to nymphs from Maryland. In addition, only Texas nymphs exhibited a behavior we call ‘hiding behavior.’ These results may reflect the different composition of hosts between these two areas as the south has a higher abundance of lizards. In contrast, there was no significant difference in questing height between Maryland adults and Texas adults which was to be expected since adults are feeding on white-tailed deer in both locations. If all southern I. scapularis nymphs are questing at lower heights this might make them less likely to come into contact with humans and this may be contributing to the geographical difference in LD prevalence.