Immature Ixodes Dammini (Acari: Ixodidae) on Small Animals in Connecticut, USA1

Abstract

More than 10,000 Ixodes dammini ticks, a species associated with human babesiosis and Lyme disease, were collected from 1800 birds (6 species) and mammals (22 species) in 4 plant communities at the Burnham Brook Preserve, East Haddam, Connecticut, USA, during 1979 and 1980. Peromyscus leucopus, Clethrionomys gapperi, Blarina brevicauda, Sciurus carolinensis, Procyon lotor, Tamias striatus, and Napaeozapus insignis were the most commonly collected species and constituted 95% of the small mammals, with P. leucopus accounting for nearly ½ of the captures. Larval I. dammini ticks were most abundant on S. carolinensis and P. leucopus, while C. gapperi harbored the fewest. S. carolinensis, T. striatus, and P. lotor were most heavily infested with nymphs, and B. brevicauda, C. gapperi, and N. insignis carried the fewest. Both larvae and nymphs were taken in approximately equal numbers on P. leucopus and B. brevicauda in each of the 4 plant communities sampled. Larvae were most abundant from April dirough October, with peaks in June and again in August through October; nymphs were encountered from April through October, with a larger peak in June and a smaller one in September. Both larvae and nymphs were taken in approximately equal numbers on juvenile and adult P. leucopus; males were more heavily infested than were females. A total of 1440 ticks of 6 additional species were also collected from the mammals. Dermacentor variabilis was the most abundant of these species, followed by I. texanus, I. cookei, I. dentatus, I. marxi, and Haemaphysalis leporispalustris. Arboviruses were not recovered from 7902 I. dammini ticks tested in suckling mice, nor were rickettsiae isolated from 1246 nymphs and adults tested in guinea pigs