Alluvial forest tick
| Alluvial forest tick | ||||||||||||
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Alluvial forest tick ( Dermacentor reticulatus ) (male) |
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| Dermacentor reticulatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1794) |
The alluvial forest tick ( Dermacentor reticulatus ) is a member of the genus of the colored ticks. It is particularly important as a carrier of Babesia canis canis , the causative agent of babesiosis in dogs ("dog malaria"), and as a carrier of Babesia caballi and Theileria equi ( horse piroplasmosis ). It is also responsible for the transmission of Q fever , a zoonosis against which there is no vaccine approved in Germany. It can also transmit rabbit plague ( tularemia ) and, according to new findings, also TBE to humans.
morphology
The female alluvial forest tick is about five when sober, up to 16 millimeters when fully sucked and thus larger than the wood tick . The males are slightly smaller than the female ticks and show no increase in size when sucking. In males, the back shield covers the entire body, in females only the front third of the body. It is marbled whitish. The outer edge is red-orange.
Synonyms
- Acarus reticulatus Fabricius, 1794
- Dermacentor ferrugineus Koch , 1844
- Ixodes holsatus Kolenati , 1857
- Ixodes marmoratus Mégnin , 1880
- Dermacentor pardalinus Koch , 1844
- Ixodes pictus Gervais , 1844
Development cycle
The alluvial forest tick changes host three times. A complete development cycle takes about 1–1.5 years.
Domestic animals such as dogs and horses , but also cattle and sheep , wild boars , deer and foxes play a role as final hosts of the alluvial forest ticks . The golden jackal can also be attacked by alluvial forest ticks. People are rarely stung. The mating of the adult ticks takes place on the host, whereby the females have to eat an 8-day blood meal and the copulation has to take place within the first 3 days. Adult ticks climb grasses in search of potential hosts. These are climbed up to a height of 1.5 m.
The females lay about 3000-5000 eggs after the blood meal in spring. The larvae that hatch from it and the nymphs that emerge from them after molting suckle on small mammals ( rodents , insectivores , rabbits ) during the summer . In dry biotopes, the nymphs take a break from May to August, which they spend in moist layers of the earth. In wetlands, they remain active all summer. The following winter is spent in a kind of cold rigor under leaves and moss, with activity in mild winters being observed until January. The development cycle is completed with the molting of the adult tick in the following spring.
distribution
The alluvial forest tick prefers moist areas such as alluvial forests and moors as well as deciduous forests as habitat . Riparian forest ticks require a summer temperature of 20–22 ° C and rainfall of 400–1000 mm. The ticks are cold-tolerant and can withstand harsh winters.
Originally found in Hungary, Austria and Northern Italy, the range of the alluvial forest tick has expanded significantly to the north since the 1970s. In Germany, the first natural population was described in 1973 on the Upper Rhine; it was probably introduced via dogs. There are now wild populations throughout Germany. The causes discussed are an increase in natural biotopes due to set-aside , the associated increase in intermediate hosts and global warming.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robert Koch Institute , Epidemiological Bulletin April 27, 2017 / No. 17, page 151
- ↑ a b c d e f Dermacentor (Dermacentor) reticulatus (Fabricius 1794). Fauna Europaea, Version 1.3, April 19, 2007 , accessed October 4, 2007 .
- ↑ SHZ: Golden jackal brings dangerous ticks and typhus
- ↑ Information about the alluvial forest tick on zeckenwetter.de
- ↑ R. Immler: Studies on the biology and ecology of the tick Dermacentor reticulatus . Bull. Soc. Entomol. Suisse 46 (1973).
- ^ C. Heile et al .: Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794). Distribution, biology and vector of Babesia canis in Germany. Berl. Münch. Veterinarian Wschr. 119 (2006), pp. 330-334.
literature
- Dieter Barutzki et al .: The babesiosis of the dog . Deutsches Tierärzteblatt 55 (2007), pp. 284–293.
- Brigitte Menn: Studies on the distribution and ecology of Dermacentor spec. (Ixodidae, Acari) in Germany. Diploma thesis, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn; 2006. Full text as pdf
