Abstract
The interaction of immature black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, with reptiles and rodents was investigated in various woodland habitats in the coastal plain of North Carolina. Reptiles were sampled from April 1 to September 30, 1991. No ticks were found on 95 specimens representing 16 species of snakes. Ticks were found on 54 (36.7%) of 147 lizards. I. scapularis was the only tick recovered from lizards. Some lizards were collected in drift fence traps each month of the study except August. Capture rates averaged one lizard per 16 trap-days. Larvac and nymphs of I. scapularis were removed from the southeastern five-lined skink (Eumeces inexpectatus), the ground skink (Scincella lateralis), the broad-headed skink (E. laticeps) and the eastem glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis), but ticks were not found on three other lizard species. Tick infestation rates and loads for parasitized species are presented. Ticks were almost exlusively attached at the base or in the axils of forelimbs of skinks and in the lateral grooves of eastern glass lizards. Rodents were live-trapped at sites where lizards were sampled and at other sites from 1 July, 1990 to 30 January, 1992. Capture rates averaged one rodent per 47 trap-nights. Ticks were found on 23 (17.8%) of 129 animals inspected. Five species of rodents were examined but only four species were found to be tick-infested. In contrast to lizards, few I. scapularis were collected. Rodents, principally the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and cotton mouse (P. gossypinus) were most frequently infested with immature American dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis, during winter and early spring months. Burdens of D. variabilis on these rodents averaged 0.3 ticks per rodent. Effects of the diversion of ticks from feeding on Peromyscus mice on the transmission of the Lyme disease spirochete are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J.F., 1991. Epizootiology of Lyme borreliosis. Scand. J. Infect. Dis., 77 (Suppl.): 23–34.
Anderson, S., 1984. Areography of North American fishes, amphibians and reptiles. Am. Mus. Nov., 2802: 1–16.
Bauwens, D., Strijbosch, H. and Stumpel, A.H.P., 1983. The lizards Lacerta agilis and L. vivipara as hosts to larvae and nymphs of the tick Ixodes ricinus. Holarc. Ecol. 6: 32–40.
Burgdorfer, W., and Gage, K.L., 1986. Susceptibility of the black-legged tick. Ixodes scapularis, to the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Zentralbl. Bakteriol. Mikrobiol. Hyg. Ser. A, 263: 15–20.
Donahue, J.G., Piesman, J. and Spielman, A., 1987. Reservoir competence of white-footed mice for Lyme discase spirochetes. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 36: 92–96.
Farrell, C.E. and Wharton, G.W., 1948. A successful method for shipping larval trombiculids (chiggers). J. Parasitol. 34: 71.
Ferner, J.W., 1979. A review of marking techniques for amphibians and reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Herpetological Circular No. 9: 16–19.
Gibbons, J.W. and Semlitsch, R.D., 1981. Terrestrial drift fence with pitfall traps: an effective technique for quantitative sampling of animal populations. Brimleyana. 7: 1–16.
Hayashi, F. and Hasegawa, M., 1984a. Selective parasitism of the tick Ixodes asanumai (Acarina: Ixodidae) and its influence on the host lizard Eumeces okadae in Miyake-jima, Izu Islands. Appl. Ent. Zool., 19: 181–191.
Hayashi, F. and Hasegawa, M., 1984b. Infestation level, attachment site and distributional pattern of the lizard tick Ixodes asanumai (Acarina: Ixodidae) in Aoga-shima, Izu Islands. Appl. Ent. Zool., 19: 299–305.
James, A.M. and Oliver, J.H.Jr., 1990. Feeding and host preference of immature Ixodes dammini, I. scapularis and I. pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae). J. Med. Entomol., 27: 324–330.
Lane, R.S., 1990. Susceptibility of the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) to the Lyme borreliosis spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi). Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 42: 75–82.
Lane, R.S. and Loye, J.E., 1989. Lyme discase in California: interrelationship of Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae), the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), and Borrelia burgdorferi. J. Med. Entomol., 26: 272–278.
Levine, J.F., Wilson, M.L. and Spielman, A., 1985. Mice as reservoirs of the Lyme disease spirochete. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 34: 355–360.
Lewis, T.H., 1951. The biology of Leiolopisma laterale (Say). Am. Midl. Nat., 45: 232–240.
Lowery, G.H.Jr., 1974. The mamals of Louisiana and its adjacent waters. Louisiana State Univ. Press, Baton Rouge. 565 pp.
Manweiler, S.A., Lane, R.S., Block, W.M. and Morrison, M.L., 1990. Survey of birds and lizards for ixodid ticks (Acari) and spirochetal infection in northern california. J. Med. Entomol., 27: 1011–1015.
manweiler, S.A., Lane, R.S. and Tempelis, C.H., 1992. The western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis: evidence of field exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi in relation to infestation by Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae). Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 47: 328–336.
Martof, B.S., Palmer, W.M., Bailey, J.R. and Harrison, J.R., III, 1980. Amphibians and reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. University of North Carolina Press. 264 pp.
Mather, T.N., Wilson, M.L., Moore, S.I., Ribeiro, J.M.C. and Spielman, A., 1989. Comparing the relative reservoir potential of rodents as reservoirs of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi). Am. J. Epidemiol., 130: 143–150.
Matuschka, F.-R., Fischer, P., Musgrave, K., Richter, D. and Spielman, A., 1991. Hosts on which nymphal Ixodes ricinus most abundantly feed. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 44: 100–107.
Matuschka, F.-R., Fischer, P., Heiler, M., Richter, D. and Spielman, A., 1992. Capacity of European animals as reservoir hosts for the Lyme disease spirochete. J. Infect. Dis., 165: 479–483.
Noether, G.E., 1991. Introduction to statistics the nonparametric way. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Oliver, J.H.Jr, Owsley, M.R., Hutcheson, H.J., James, A.M., Chen, C., Irby, W.S., Dotson, E.M. and McLain, D.K., 1993. Conspecificity of the ticks Ixodes scapularis and I. dammini (Acari: Ixodidae). J. Med. Entomol., 30: 54–63.
Piesman, J. and Sinsky, R.J., 1988. Ability of Ixodes scapularis, Dermacentor variabilis, and Amblyomma americanum (acari: Ixodidae) to acquire, maintain, and transmit Lyme disease spirochetes (Borrelia burgdorferi). J. Med. Entomol. 25: 336–339.
Pough, F.H., 1991. Recommendations for the care of amphibians and reptiles in academic institutions. ILAR News, 33: S5-S21.
Rogers, A.J., 1953. A study of the ixodid ticks of northern Florida, including the biology and life history of Ixodes scapularis. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park. 185 pp.
schafale, M.P. and Weakly, A.S., 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina: third approximation. N.C. Natural Heritage Program, Division of Parks and Recreation, N.C. Dept. Environment, Health and Natural Resources, Raleigh, NC. 325 pp.
Sonenshine, D.E., 1975. Influence of host-parasite interactions on the population dynamics of ticks. Misc. Publ. Entomol. Soc. Am., 9: 243–249.
Spielman, A., Levine, J.F. and Wilson, M.L., 1984. Vectorial capacity of North American Ixodes ticks. Yale J. Biol. Med., 57: 507–513.
Turner, F.B., Jennrich, R.I. and Weintraub, J.D., 1969. Home ranges and body size of lizards. Ecology, 50: 1076–1081.
Vitt, L.J. and Cooper, W.E.Jr, 1986. Foraging and diet of a diurnal predator (Eumeces laticeps) feeding on hidden prey. J. Herpetol., 20: 408–415.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The use of trade names in this publication does not imply an endorsement by the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service or the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University of the products named, nor criticism of similar ones not mentioned. Partial support for this research was provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service and College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Apperson, C.S., Levine, J.F., Evans, T.L. et al. Relative utilization of reptiles and rodents as hosts by immature Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in the coastal plain of North Carolina, USA. Exp Appl Acarol 17, 719–731 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051830
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00051830