Unravelling the phenology of Ixodes frontalis, a common but understudied tick species in Europe
2019
Agoulon, Albert | Hoch, Thierry | Heylen, Dieter | Chalvet-Monfray, Karine | Plantard, Olivier | Biologie, Epidémiologie et analyse de risque en Santé Animale (BIOEPAR) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École nationale vétérinaire, agroalimentaire et de l'alimentation Nantes-Atlantique (ONIRIS) | Hasselt University (UHasselt) | Princeton University | Unité Mixte de Recherche d'Épidémiologie des maladies Animales et zoonotiques (UMR EPIA) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS) | This work received financial support from the CC-EID project (métaprogramme “Adaptation of Agriculture and Forests to Climate Change” of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA)). Dieter Heylen is funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (EU-Horizon 2020, Individual Global Fellowship, project no 799609) and the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders (FWO).
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. Tick-borne diseases have a complex epidemiology that depends on different ecological communities, associating several species of vertebrate hosts, vectors and pathogens. While most studies in Europe are focused on Ixodes ricinus, the common sheep tick, other Ixodes species may also be involved in the transmission or maintenance of different pathogens. In this study, we describe for the first time the activity pattern of I. frontalis, an understudied but widespread tick species associated with several common bird species in Europe. Questing ixodid tick stages (larvae, nymphs and adults) of both I. frontalis and I. ricinus were monitored by the drag sampling method over three years at the same locations in Western France. Differential activities were observed depending on I. frontalis life stages: nymphs and adults were present sporadically on the ground throughout the year, while larvae exhibited a marked peak of activity around October-November with tens or even hundreds of individuals per m2, followed by a slow decrease in winter. Larvae were completely absent in summer, which contrasts with the high numbers of I. ricinus larvae at this time of the year. The vegetation and the litter where the two tick species were found also exhibited marked differences, with I. frontalis mostly collected under bamboo bushes.
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