Biology of Dermacentor silvarum (Acari: Ixodidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract

The minimum life cycle of Dermacentor silvarum Olenev had a mean duration of 87.5 days (range 74-102 days) under laboratory conditions [(27 +/- 1 degrees C), 70% RH, 6 L: 18 D]. The mean time in (days) for the different stages of its cycle was as follows: incubation period of eggs was 15.3 days; prefeeding, feeding and premoulting periods of larvae and nymphs averaged 5.5, 4.0 and 7.3 days, and 5.2, 5.0 and 14.6 days, respectively; prefeeding, feeding, preoviposition and oviposition periods of female adults lasted for 7.8, 4.5, 4.3 and 14.0 days, respectively. There existed a highly significant correlation between engorged body weight of females and egg masses laid (r = 0.9877, p<0.001). The reproductive efficiency index (REI) and reproductive fitness index (RFI) in females were 11.09 and 9.58, respectively. No relationship between nymphal engorged body weight and resultant sexes was observed. Delayed feeding and non-oviposition (in June and July) existed in females, and low temperature (-10 degrees C) treatment for 45 days could terminate oviposition diapause. However, the egg masses laid by post-diapause females were significantly smaller than those laid by females engorged in March, April and May.

Comparison of efficiency and reproductive aptitude indexes between a reference and field strains of the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, in Sinaloa, Mexico

“…microplus, found high correlations between tick weight and the number of eggs laid and eggs hatched. Other authors have found similar relationships in other species of ticks (DRUMMOND; WHETSTONE, 1970WHETSTONE, , 1975DRUMMOND et al, 1971;WANCHINGA;BARKER, 1986;KOCH, 1982;LIU et al, 2005). The results of this study agree with these previous reports in the literature.…”

“…It has been suggested by Passos dos Santos and Furlong (2002) that heavier females produce more eggs and thus have a higher REI. The REI and RAI observed in this study were higher than those reported by other authors (BORGES et al, 2001;CHILTON, 1992;LIU et al, 2005). The quadratic and linear trend observed in this study should be considered normal due to existent variations in female weight increase and the decrease of their capacity to lay eggs.…”

Life cycle of Haemaphysalis doenitzi (Acari: Ixodidae) under laboratory conditions and its phylogeny based on mitochondrial 16S rDNA

“…Colonies of these ticks were reared on rabbits as described by Liu et al (2005) and maintained in our laboratory. Rabbits were maintained in a room with 50% relative humidity (RH) at 25-27°C and exposed to daylight.…”

Coinfection of Dermacentor silvarum Olenev (Acari: Ixodidae) by Coxiella-Like, Arsenophonus-Like, and Rickettsia-Like Symbionts

“…Several collected ticks were stored under Ϫ80°C conditions. Others were reared on rabbits as described by Liu et al (20). Before DNA extraction, all tick samples were sterilized as described by Clay et al (21) and dissected tissue samples were washed three times in sterile phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 4.3 mM Na 2 HPO 4 ·7H 2 O, 1.4 mM KH 2 PO 4 , pH 7.4).…”