Ixodid Ticks (Acari, Ixodidae) in Urban Landscapes. A review

Abstract

Ixodid Ticks (Acari, Ixodidae) in Urban Landscapes. A review. Akimov, I. A., Nebogatkin, I. V. -Th is study presents the results of content analysis of published works on ixodid ticks in urban conditions in order to determine the species diversity, the vectors of research interests at various stages. Information about ticks in the cities up to the 1980s is incidental, to the point of exclusive, aft er this point there is targeted research in urban landscapes. Th ere are 106 or 15 % of hard ticks of the world fauna registered in the urban territory, 26 species or 3.7 % being the most abundant. Of the urban hard tick species, 23 (88.5 %) can attack humans, and 12 species are the most adapted to the urban landscape: Ixodes ricinus, I. persulcatus, Dermacentor reticulatus, D. marginatus, I. pavlovskyi, I. scapularis (dammini), Amblyomma cajennense, Haemaphysalis longicornis, I. hexagonus, Hyalomma marginatum, Am. americanum, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus. It was determined that the most likely causes of the growing number of publications on ixodids urban landscapes are: global accelerating urbanization, the development of recreational areas, the development of green tourism, the growth of the prestige of outdoor recreation, the creation of new, especially of the landscape parks and a tendency to preserve the native landscape in the cities, a signifi cant increase in the density of populations of common species of hard ticks adapted to living in urban environment. Th e vectors of further work in urban landscapes will be directed to exact planning of monitoring studies of ixodids and associated tick-borne infections.K e y w o r d s : ticks, city, tick-borne infection, urban landscapes.

A transcriptome-based phylogenetic study of hard ticks (Ixodidae)

“…scapularis ), sharing similar morphologies, life-styles and the ability to transmit the Lyme disease spirochaetes 38 . Even though closely related species are unable to transmit this pathogen 38,39 , the term ‘ricinus group’ is still used 39–41 to describe this group of closely related species. Our analysis (considering both the nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenies) confirms the extreme relatedness of six species ( I .…”

A brief review: the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in urban and suburban areas

“…An opinion still exists that the major risk of ticks and tick-borne diseases is associated with wooded and high grass areas. However, in recent decades, more reports have appeared which focus on tick and tick-borne infections in urban and suburban landscapes (Akimov, Nebogatkin, 2016). It is not surprising, because currently more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas; hencepublic parks, gardens, and leisure-time areas have become particularly important places where humans and domestic animals can encounter potentially infected questing ticks.…”

Repeatable differences in exploratory behaviour predict tick infestation probability in wild great tits

“…Tack et al 2012; Tack et al 2013), and are thus predicted to covary with habitat modification and climatic change (Lindgren et al 2000; Randolph 2004; Akimov and Nebogatkin 2016). For example, city-dwelling birds may carry lower tick burdens (Evans et al 2009; Hamer et al 2012) as ticks are less abundant in urban environments (Akimov and Nebogatkin 2016). However, birds in worse physiological condition may also attract more ticks because they are more susceptible to take up parasites (Barber and Dingemanse 2010; Abbey-Lee et al 2016; Hutfluss and Dingemanse 2019).…”