Potential risk in public parks: Investigation of the tick species (Acari: Ixodida) in Bursa metropolitan area, Turkey

Abstract

Ticks feed on a wide variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, and even amphibians. The majority of ticks choose specific animal species that are of no medical or veterinary importance for feeding, while others grasp a wide range of hosts, such as petbreeding animals or humans. They can also transmit many human and animal pathogens include viruses, bacteria, rickettsia and protozoa in Turkey. This study was carried out to detect the distribution of ticks in public parks in six districts (Osmangazi, Yıldırım, Nilüfer, Gürsu, Kestel, Mudanya) of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality area (city centre) in Turkey, between May 2016 and May 2018. A total of 6186 ticks were collected with flagging or CO2 trapping method from the public parks. The collected ticks were kept in 70% alcohol and then were identified under a stereomicroscope. Seven hard or soft tick species according to five genera were identified as Rhipicephalus sanguineus, R. turanicus, Hyalomma marginatum, H. aegyptium, Dermacentor marginatus, Ixodes ricinus and Argas persicus. Among them, R. sanguineus was the most abundant (59.79%) tick in the public parks. Ixodes ricinus increased significantly primarily in the forest areas. This is the first record of tick species in public parks in Turkey and these results may give us an acute insight into the prevalence of tick-borne infections in pets and humans.

The Eldari tick Ixodes eldaricus (Acari: Ixodidae) in Israel: its occurrence, morphometric and biological characteristics

“…This is indicated by the differences in the seasons of activity of the tick (spring and autumn months in the northern part of the range (Filippova, 1977) and winter months in our observations and in those by Yeruham et al (1995), and by its preferential occurrence in the areas characterized by higher humidity and lower sun irradiation in our and Yeruham's observations. A bimodal activity pattern with a strong decline of activity in January observed in our survey is also common to I. ricinus near the southern border of its range (Daniel et al, 2015;Aydin et al, 2020). Our data allow to estimate the average daily maximal air temperatures in the range of 13-20°C as optimal for activity of adult I. eldaricus.…”

Perception of Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases Worldwide

“…More than 40 tick species have been reported in the country to date [191]. The most-recorded species were H. marginatum, Hyalomma excavatum, Hyalomma anatolicum, Hyalomma asiaticum, Hyalomma aegyptium, R. sanguineus s.l., Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Haemaphysalis parva, and Dermacentor marginatus [192][193][194][195][196][197][198]. As a result of this tick species richness, a number of pathogens have been detected, including Ehrlichia canis, Theileria spp.…”

Exploring the Larvicidal and Repellent Potential of Taurus Cedar (Cedrus libani) Tar against the Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato)

“…Latreille (Acari: Ixodidae) is known as the brown dog tick and acts as a vector for zoonotic disease pathogens such as Rickettsia conorii, Ehrlichia canis, and Coxiella burnetii [12]. The prevalence of these ticks in urban areas and parks raises concerns about human and animal health [13,14]. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that Rhipicephalus ticks have developed resistance to chemical acaricides used by pet owners to protect against ticks in parks and gardens [15][16][17][18].…”