Hedgehog tick

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Hedgehog tick
female hedgehog tick (Ixodes hexagonus)

female hedgehog tick ( Ixodes hexagonus )

Systematics
Class : Arachnids (arachnida)
Subclass : Mites (acari)
Superordinate : Parasitiformes
Order : Ticks (ixodida or metastigmata)
Family : Shield ticks (ixodidae)
Type : Hedgehog tick
Scientific name
Ixodes hexagonus
Leach , 1815

The hedgehog tick ( Ixodes hexagonus ) is a species from the family of shield ticks .

features

The body of the hedgehog tick is around 3.5 to 4.5 millimeters long when not fully sucked. As is typical for the relationship, males and females differ markedly: While the shield (skutum) in the male almost completely covers the animal dorsally (from above), in the female it is limited to the front area of ​​the idiosoma. In the female, two conspicuous, pear-shaped pore fields sit on top of the front body section (capitulum). The species can be roughly distinguished from the very similar common wood tick by the shape of the brown colored scutum: this is more rounded in the common wood tick, and more hexagonal in the hedgehog tick. However, this feature is uncertain and does not allow a reliable determination. The combination of the following features allows a safe address: The palps of the mouthparts are short in both sexes, shorter than the base of the capitulum, and club-shaped at the end. The hips (coxae), d. H. the first link of the articulated legs, in the female only has a rudimentary, poorly recognizable thorn on the coxes of the first pair of legs. Such a thorn sits on the inside of the coxes of the first pair of legs. The coxes of the legs have no noticeably long hair and no pore fields. The last leg links (tarsi) of the first pair of legs are abruptly narrowed towards the tip, in front of which there is a clearly separated, small hump. In the female, the genital opening sits between the coxes of the third pair of legs (in the common wood tick the fourth).

The species can now be identified in the laboratory using their DNA using DNA barcoding methods .

distribution

The hedgehog tick lives in almost all of Europe from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia and Ireland, also in Algeria and Morocco in North Africa, in Asia Minor and the Caucasus region, east through all of Eastern Europe and West Asia to Central Asia ( Tian Shan , Tajikistan ). It can be expected everywhere in Germany.

Way of life

The most important host is the hedgehog , but hedgehog ticks also attack a number of predators, such as stone marten , weasel and ermine , fox , but also dogs and domestic cats , with less frequency . A rare false host besides the deer is also humans. Infestation in humans is rare due to the way they live, but it is quite regular and occurs most likely in underground cellars or burrows or through contact with domestic animals. In a study of over 3,500 dogs in England, 21.7 percent of the dogs were infected with hedgehog ticks (for comparison: common wood tick : 72.1 percent, fox tick Ixodes canisuga : 5.6 percent).

Hedgehogs are regularly and frequently infested with the species. On closer examination, between 70 and 100 percent of the animals examined carried ticks of this species, with up to 247 ticks (of all life stages) being counted on individual animals. It should be noted, however, that the common wood tick also regularly attacks hedgehogs, in some regions even more individuals; the ticks cannot therefore be determined based on their host.

The hedgehog tick is a nest-dwelling (or nidicole) species that waits for its hosts inside the nest, it does not actively look for hosts outside the nest. As with many ticks, the animals are able to starve for a long time; Under laboratory conditions, larvae of the species survived for more than 6 years without food. The tick leaves the host after each suckling process, so larvae, nymphs and sexually mature animals each have to seek out a new host (“three host” tick species), this can be an individual of the same or a different species. The species occurs in a comparable density in all seasons and, unlike the common wood tick, does not have a pronounced annual cycle.

Medical importance

The hedgehog tick, like its host, the hedgehog, carries Borrelia burgdorferi , the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis and other Borrelia species and is therefore a potential vector of this disease. It also transmits the TBE virus and with it the early summer meningoencephalitis . Furthermore, parasitic unicellular organisms (piroplasms) of the species Theileria annae (synonym: Babesia annae ) were transmitted in Spain , which can cause anemia comparable to babesiosis in dogs .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Nosek & W. Sixl (1972): Central-European ticks (Ixodoidea) Key for determination. Communications from the Department of Zoology at the Landesmuseum Joanneum Vol. 1, H. 2: 61–92. download
  2. ↑ ticks. Homepage of Michael Becker
  3. ^ Ixodes ricinus Taxonomy, Natural History Museum London
  4. ↑ Rumer, L., Sheshukova, O., Dautel, H., Mantke, OD, Niederig, M. (2011): Differentiation of medically important Euro-Asian tick species Ixodes ricinus, Ixodes persulcatus, Ixodes hexagonus, and Dermacentor reticulatus by polymerase chain reaction. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 11 (7): 899-905. doi : 10.1089 / vbz.2009.0191
  5. ↑ a b c Trevor, N. Petney, Miriam P. Pfäffle, Jasmin D. Skuballa (2012): An annotated checklist of the ticks (Acari: Ixodida) of Germany. Systematic & Applied Acarology 17 (2): 115-170. on-line
  6. ↑ Augustin Estrada-Pena & Frans Jongejan (1999): Ticks feeding on humans: a review of records on human-biting Ixodoidea with special reference to pathogen transmission. Experimental and Applied Acarology 23: 685-715.
  7. ^ DR Arthur (1953): The host relationships of Ixodes hexagonus Leach in Britain. Parasitology Volume 43 Issue 3-4: 227-238
  8. ^ FD Smith, R. Ballantyne, ER Morgan, R. Wall (2011): Prevalence, distribution and risk associated with tick infestation of dogs in Great Britain. Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2011) doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-2915.2011.00954.x
  9. ↑ Sylwia Dziemian, Barbara Piłacińska, Paweł Bogawski, Jerzy Michalik Infestation of the Northern white-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus) with Ixodes ticks in urban ecosystems of the city of Poznań. Repozytorium Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza download
  10. ↑ a b M. Pfäffle, T. Petney, J. Skuballa, H. Taraschewski (2011): Comparative population dynamics of a generalist (Ixodes ricinus) and specialist tick (I. hexagonus) species from European hedgehogs. Experimental and Applied Acarology 54: 151-164. doi : 10.1007 / s10493-011-9432-x
  11. ↑ Jasmin Skuballa, Rainer Oehme, Kathrin Hartelt, Trevor Petney, Thomas Bücher, Peter Kimmig, Horst Taraschewski (2007): European Hedgehogs as Hosts for Borrelia spp., Germany. Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol. 13, No. 6: 952-953.
  12. ↑ L. Gern, LN Toutoungi, CM Hu, A. Aeschlimann (1991): Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) hexagonus, an efficient vector of Borrelia burgdorferi in the laboratory. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 5: 431-435. doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-2915.1991.tb00571.x
  13. ↑ M. Labuda, SE Randolph (1999): Survival strategy of tick-borne encephalitis virus: cellular basis and environmental determinants, Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie 289: 513-524.
  14. ↑ AT Camachoa, E. Pallas, JJ Gestal, FJ Guitián, AS Olmeda, SR Telford III, A. Spielman (2003): Ixodes hexagonus is the main candidate as vector of Theileria annae in northwest Spain. Veterinary Parasitology Volume 112, Issues 1-2: 157-163. doi : 10.1016 / S0304-4017 (02) 00417-X