Development and biological characteristics of Haemaphysalis longicornis (Acari: Ixodidae) under field conditions

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Biological characteristics of Hyalomma rufipes parasitising on rabbits and sheep were compared under laboratory conditions in Gansu, China. Mature ticks could parasitize both rabbits and sheep, while immature ticks only fed on rabbits successfully. Adults sucked blood on sheep significantly longer than on rabbits (16 and 13 days, respectively). Other adult parasite characteristics fed on the two hosts were similar, including the weight of engorged adult, female daily oviposition, and the weight and amount of the egg mass laid. Those indicated that this tick species showed little host specificity between sheep and rabbits during its adult stage. In total, the life cycle of H. rufipes was completed in an average period of 179 days. The average developmental periods were 59 days for egg incubation, 3 and 21 days for immature tick prefeeding and feeding, 2, 12 and 40 days for adult prefeeding, female preoviposition and oviposition. The longer female fed for engorgement, the shorter preoviposition period of engorged female needed, although when the feeding period was less than 15 days, this relationship was not obvious. The results confirmed the correlation between the weight of the engorged female and the number of eggs laid (r = 0.909). The reproductive efficiency index (REI) and reproductive fitness index (RFI) in females was 10.63 and 7.22, respectively. Engorged nymphs moulting to females were significantly heavier (27.6 ± 0.89 mg) than those moulting to males (22.3 ± 0.52 mg). Males outnumbered females by 1.4:1.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

The life cycle of Hyalomma rufipes (Acari: Ixodidae) under laboratory conditions

Chen

Liu

et al. 2011

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“…In north China, this species is the most abundant and attacks human and domestic animals, with a heavy infestation in every Summer. Our recently study indicated that, under field condition, this tick follows a pattern of one generation per year (Zheng et al 2011). It undergoes longer molting duration of nymphs and preoviposition of females when compared with data obtained in laboratory (Liu and Jiang 1998;Zheng et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…It undergoes longer molting duration of nymphs and preoviposition of females when compared with data obtained in laboratory (Liu and Jiang 1998;Zheng et al 2011). We also conducted an observation of the seasonal occurrence of this tick in a field confined plot (Zheng et al 2011). It suggests that nymphs were active from April to July, adult present from June to August and larvae emerge from late July to October.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Our recently study indicated that, under field condition, this tick follows a pattern of one generation per year (Zheng et al 2011). It undergoes longer molting duration of nymphs and preoviposition of females when compared with data obtained in laboratory (Liu and Jiang 1998;Zheng et al 2011). We also conducted an observation of the seasonal occurrence of this tick in a field confined plot (Zheng et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

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Seasonal abundance and activity of the hard tick Haemaphysalis longicornis (Acari: Ixodidae) in North China

Zheng

Zhou

et al. 2011

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Seasonal abundance and activity of all the three post-embryogenic stages of Haemaphysalis longicornis, both feeding and free-living phases, were evaluated over a period of 2 years, from February 2008 to January 2010, in North China. Feeding ticks were removed weekly from head and ears of domestic sheep and the attachment sites of this tick were assessed co-instantaneously; free-living ticks were collected weekly in four habitat types by flag-dragging. The results suggested that H. longicornis mainly resides in shrubs and completes one generation per year with population attrition between stages. Infestation of nymphs was detected from March to September with highest peak between late April and early May; adults were detected from April to September with highest peak between late June and July, and an overwintering male population was found during late September to March; infestation of larvae was observed from June to October and peaked between middle August and early September. Most of this tick (91%) attached to head and ears of hosts. Additionally, we captured rodents from April to September 2008, but only a negligible number of nymphs were detected. This result suggested that rodents are not the principal hosts for this tick in the study area.

“…The mean weight (2.77 mg) of engorged nymphs moulting to females is much higher than that (1.68 mg) of nymphs moulting to males. This relationship could be used as an index to predict tick sex, as observed in H. longicornis (Zheng et al 2011), Hyalomma asiaticum kozlovi (Chen et al 2009), D. variabilis (Say) (Hu and Rowley 2000), Amblyomma cooperi (Labruna et al 2004), A. inornatum (Banks) (Gladney et al 1977) and Rhipicephalus bursa Canestrini (Yeruham et al 2000). The ratio of adult males to females is 1:1.01.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle of Haemaphysalis doenitzi (Acari: Ixodidae) under laboratory conditions and its phylogeny based on mitochondrial 16S rDNA

Chen

Guo

et al. 2011

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The paper investigated the life cycle of the hard tick Haemaphysalis doenitzi under laboratory conditions and its phylogeny based on mitochondrial 16S rDNA. The results revealed that the complete life cycle of H. doenitzi requires a mean duration of 109.6 days ranging from 91 to 137 days and the average prefeeding, feeding and premoulting periods of larvae, nymphs and females and the eggs hatching period are 18.7, 26.9, 38.9, and 25.1 days, respectively. In addition, the weight of engorged females is highly correlated with the number of egg masses laid (r = 0.936, P < 0.001). The female reproductive efficiency index and reproductive fitness index are 13.4 and 12.8, respectively. The mean weight of the engorged nymphs (2.77 mg) moulting to females is much higher than those (1.68 mg) moulting to males, which could be used as an index to predict sexes in this species. The ratio of male to female is 1:1.01. Moreover, multisequence alignments and phylogenetic tree constructed based on the mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequences suggest that H. doenitzi is genetically close to H. longicornis.