Evaluation of Four Bed Bug Traps for Surveillance of the Brown Dog Tick (Acari: Ixodidae)

Abstract

The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latrielle), can be a serious residential pest due to its unique ability, among ticks, to complete its lifecycle indoors. A single engorged and fertilized female tick can oviposit around 4,000 eggs, allowing indoor establishment to be rapid and easy to miss in early-stage infestations. Acaricide treatment is currently the primary method of control, but can be costly and can lead to the development of acaricide resistance in tick populations. Traps of various designs can be used to help monitor and manage populations of indoor pests, such as cockroaches and bed bugs, but there are currently no commercially available traps for use with brown dog tick infestations. This study included a comparison of four commercially available bed bug traps (NightWatch [BioSensory Inc., Putnam, CT], Bed Bug Beacon [PackTite, Fort Collins, CO], ClimbUp [Susan McKnight Inc., Memphis, TN], and Verify [FMC Corporation, Philadelphia, PA]) with regard to their efficacy in capturing brown dog ticks, and also compared tick attraction to ClimbUp traps baited with several stimuli including CO2. Significantly more ticks were captured and attracted to the NightWatch and CO2-baited ClimbUp traps than the other two trap models. The results suggest that bed bug traps may be useful in brown dog tick monitoring, and CO2 will likely be an important component of a trapping system employed in the future.

Laboratory and field evaluation of brown dog tick behavioral responses to potential semiochemicals

“…Ticks counted both on the trap and in the pitfall of the trap were classified as attracted. It was noted in a previous study (Carnohan et al, 2015) that ~90% of the ticks were on the walls after the 30 min acclimatization period. Therefore, any ticks that were on the trap, in the pitfall of the trap, and on the floor of the room were considered to be activated.…”

“…CO was provided in the form of dry ice pellets (~1.8 kg), which were placed in a blue and white insulated thermos (1.89 Liter Igloo Legend, Igloo Products Corp.) with a 1.2-cm orifice, and produced 992.5 ml/min CO 2 . Similar thermoses, to the one used in this trap, provided no attractive stimulus to the ticks in the absence of CO 2 in a previous study (Carnohan et al, 2015). In the treatments without CO 2 , an empty thermos was placed in the center of the trap.…”

“…Assay design: Selected chemicals were evaluated for their efficacy using the commercially-available bed bug trap, ClimbUp ® (Susan McKnight Inc., Memphis, TN) in two specially designed assay rooms or mesocosms described previously by Carnohan et al (2015). In previous studies, the ClimbUp ® , when baited with carbon dioxide, was the most efficacious of those tested for capture of brown dog ticks (Carnohan et al, 2015). In the mesocosms, the average temperature was 24.54 ± 0.27°C and 26.19 ± 0.22°C in the morning (6:00-12:00 hr) and afternoon (13:00 -19:00 hr) evaluation periods, respectively.…”

“…Traps baited with CO 2 consistently lured brown dog ticks. The importance of CO 2 in tick activation and attraction has been demonstrated many times, either as a standalone attractant (Wilson et al, 1972;Gray, 1985;Carnohan et al, 2015), or in combination with other chemicals (Norval et al, 1989;Maranga et al, 2006;Nchu et al, 2010;Ranju et al, 2013). In the current study, R. sanguineus were both significantly more activated and captured in the traps that produced CO 2 .…”

“…These volatiles, known as kairomones, guide the tick towards its host (Dantas-Torres, 2010). For example, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has been demonstrated to be important for brown dog tick attraction to traps (Ranju et al, 2013;Carnohan et al, 2015). Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l.…”