Migratory bird tick surveillance, including a new record of Haemaphysalis ornithophila Hoogstraal and Kohls 1959 (Acari: Ixodidae) from Hong-do (Hong Island), Republic of Korea

Abstract

In 2008, tick surveillance of migratory birds was conducted on Hong-do (Hong Island), Jeollanam Province, Republic of Korea. Seventy-seven ticks representing two genera and four species—Haemaphysalis flava Neumann (21 ticks), Haemaphysalis ornithophila Hoogstraal & Kohls (2), Ixodes nipponensis Kitaoka & Saito (3), and Ixodes turdus Nakatsuji (51)—were collected from 12 species of birds belonging to nine genera. Two male H. ornithophila, an uncommonly collected tick, were removed from a scaly thrush, Zoothera dauma(Latham), on Hong-do. Haemaphysalis ornithophila is a Southeast Asian species that was transported to Korea during the spring migration of Z. dauma to its breeding grounds in Russia. This first report of H. ornithophila from Korea has implications for the introduction of exotic tick species and their pathogens on migratory birds.