Life cycle of Ixodes luciae (Acari: Ixodidae) in the laboratory

Abstract

The life cycle of Ixodes luciae was evaluated for five consecutive generations in the laboratory. Wild mice Calomys callosus and laboratory rats Rattus norvegicus were used as hosts for larvae and nymphs. For adult ticks, opossums Didelphis aurita were used as hosts. Off-host developmental periods were observed in an incubator at 27 degrees C and 95% RH. The life cycle of I. luciae lasted 95-97 days, excluding prefeeding periods. C. callosus, one of the natural host species for I. luciae immature stages, was shown to be much more suitable than the artificial host R. norvegicus. Significantly (P < 0.05), more larvae and nymphs successfully fed on C. callosus than on R. norvegicus. When tick-naïve C. callosus were exposed to three consecutive larval infestations at 24-day intervals, recovery of engorged larvae were greater in the second and third infestations, indicating that previous infestations did not induce acquired resistance to ticks. Larval feeding period typically varied from 5 to 10 days on R. norvegicus, but was significantly (P < 0.05), longer on C. callosus (range, 7-34 days). The majority (71.7%) of I. luciae adult females successfully fed and oviposited after exposed to D. aurita. Mean engorged weight (581.9 mg; range, 237.1-796.0 mg) of these females were much higher than those previously reported for other New World Ixodes species. Our results are in accordance to the current literature that appoints opossums Didelphidae and small rodents (e.g., C. callosus) natural hosts for I. luciae immature and adult stages, respectively.

Host specificity in a diverse Neotropical tick community: an assessment using quantitative network analysis and host phylogeny

“…This suggests that the potential host specificity of ticks may be lower than their realized specificity. However, a substantial body of evidence also suggests that tick physiological processes, such as molting, engorgement, hatching, oviposition, and even survival, are negatively affected when ticks are fed on unnatural host species [ 1 , 67 , 70 , 72 – 77 ]. These studies also showed that tick fitness was higher on laboratory animals that were phylogenetically more closely related to the tick species’ natural host species.…”

Host specificity of a bird-specialised endophilic ectoparasite, the tree-hole tick Ixodes arboricola

“…This suggests that these birds are the least suitable hosts for I. arboricola because moulting time of ixodid ticks is usually longer on unsuitable hosts (Labruna et al 2009;Olegário et al 2011). This is not in line with the prediction that parasites are better adapted to the most frequently encountered hosts because then the lowest success should have been found on pied flycatchers (Legros and Koella 2010).…”

“…First, parasites need to attach to a host and penetrate its skin, and attachment success is lower on unsuitable hosts . Second, once the skin is penetrated, parasites need to evade host defences, and it has been shown that blood meal duration is longer (Mccoy and Boulinier 2002;Labruna et al 2009), engorgement success lower (Labruna et al 2002;Labruna et al 2009;Dietrich et al 2013) and the blood meal smaller on unsuitable hosts (Olegário et al 2011). Finally, moulting (Labruna et al 2002;Mccoy and Boulinier 2002;Labruna et al 2009) and hatching success (Olegário et al 2011) are lower and moulting time is longer on unsuitable hosts (Labruna et al 2009;Olegário et al 2011).…”

Didelphis spp. opossums and their parasites in the Americas: A One Health perspective

“…3), with the species Ixodes loricatus, Ixodes amarali, Ixodes luciae and Ixodes didelphidis having these animals as primary hosts (Labruna et al 2004(Labruna et al , 2009Dantas-Torres et al 2012b). Indeed, it is known that they are three host ticks feeding on small rodents at early life stages, and on opossums at the adult stage (Labruna et al 2009;Nava et al 2017;Tarragona et al 2018). Up to date, there is no record on the vector role of these species or their parasitic association with humans.…”