Ixodes inopinatus

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Ixodes inopinatus
Systematics
Subclass : Mites (acari)
Superordinate : Parasitiformes
Order : Ticks (ixodida or metastigmata)
Family : Shield ticks (ixodidae)
Genre : Ixodes
Type : Ixodes inopinatus
Scientific name
Ixodes inopinatus
Estrada-Peña , Nava & Petney , 2014

Ixodes inopinatus is in the Mediterranean non tick species from the genus Ixodes within the family of the ticks (Ixodidae). Thespecies was first described in 2014. Until then, it wasidentifiedas the common wood tick ( Ixodes ricinus )in the Mediterranean countriesand recognized as the carrier of the pathogen of several zoonoses . Ixodes inopinatus has been found repeatedly in Germany since 2014, where - unlike in the Mediterranean countries - it occurs together with the common wood tick.

description

Ixodes inopinatus is a rather small tick within the genus Ixodes . In both sexes, the front body (the gnathosoma ), the shield (the scutum ) and the legs are black-brown and slightly hairy.

The body length of the females is 3.2 to 4 millimeters and the width 1.8 to 2 millimeters when sober. The scutum has numerous long setae that do not form any pattern. The brown alloscutum is hairy over the entire surface, with narrow but pronounced folds, and swells in the course of a meal to many times its original size. The legs are slender, with very small thorns on each pair of coxes . In a few individuals the thorns on the fourth pair of coxes are missing. The genital opening is at the level of the fourth pair of coxes.

The male ticks have a body length of about 2 to 2.1 millimeters and a width of about 1.1 to 1.3 millimeters. Their body is approximately oval in shape, with a slightly wider rear part. The scutum takes up almost the entire surface of the body. Male ticks only have a row of Setae on the edge of the body, which is partly formed as a double row. The legs are of moderate length, on the coxae of the second and third, and occasionally also the fourth pair of legs, there are short spines on the outside. The first pair of coxes has a long, pointed and slightly curved spine on the inside. The genital opening is at the level of the third pair of coxes.

The nymphs of Ixodes inopinatus have a body length of 1 to 1.3 millimeters. and a width of 0.66 to 0.93 millimeters. The scutum is wider than it is long, the scapulae short and rounded. The Haller organ has six sensory hairs outside and six inside the capsule.

Larvae appear oval in plan view, their scutum is significantly wider than it is long. They have five pairs of short setae on the scutum. On the alloscutum there are eleven pairs of setae, some of which are five to six times the length of those on the scutum. The first pair of coxes each have two triangular spines, the inner one of which is longer. On the second pair there is only one outer spine, which is shorter than the outer spine of the first coxen pair. There are no thorns on the third pair of coxes. Haller's organ has five sensory hairs on the outside and three on the inside.

The adult female ticks differ from the common wood tick in the dimensions and drawing of the scutum, the length of the setae on the idiosoma and the size of the auriculae (that is, a pair of protrusions, or edges, on the back corners, on the lower or ventral side of the Gnathosoma). The nymphs can also be distinguished by the dimensions of the scutum and the relative length of certain setae, as well as by the relative length of the thorns on the first pair of coxes . The scutum of the larvae of Ixodes inopinatus is wider than it is long, and certain setae on the Idiosoma are unusually long.

discovery

As early as 2002 it was found that the populations of the common wood tick in Switzerland differ genetically from those in Tunisia. However, this was attributed to the fact that the spread of ticks by migratory birds could be of less importance than previously assumed, with the consequence of a reduced gene flow . The extent of the genetic deviations could not be determined in the context of the study because of its methodology, which is geared towards other issues, the small number of examined individuals and the lack of test material from the regions between Switzerland and Tunisia.

In 2011, an investigation into the genetic diversity of the common wood tick was carried out throughout its European and North African range. It was found that the North African and Eurasian populations form their own clades . The populations of Ixodes inopinatus on the Iberian Peninsula were not known at this time. The first attempt at an explanation was therefore the assumption that the Eurasian and North African populations had been separated from one another by the Mediterranean after the glaciation of the Pleistocene and had developed independently of one another. The taxonomic status of North African populations of the common wood ram was first called into question.

After preliminary work by de Meeûs, Noureddine and colleagues, several thousand ticks in all stages of development from numerous European and North African countries were subjected to morphological and molecular biological examinations and the species status of Ixodes inopinatus was recognized. Its known range was expanded to the Iberian Peninsula, and a find from Rhineland-Palatinate was identified.

distribution and habitat

The terra typica of Ixodes inopinatus is a Mediterranean pine forest of Aleppo pines with a lot of undergrowth but also large open spaces. The climate is warm and dry with minimum temperatures above 6 degrees Celsius and annual rainfall of 600 to 700 millimeters. In Portugal it was found that the common wood tick lives mainly in forests made up of Portuguese oaks , while Ixodes inopinatus is more likely to be found in cork oak forests .

Ixodes inopinatus is widespread in the countries of the western Mediterranean . There, in the arid regions of Spain , Portugal, Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia , it occurs instead of Ixodes ricinus , the common wood tick . In Spain and Portugal both species occur allopatric , their localities are only 125 kilometers apart. In Germany, Ixodes inopinatus has only been found sporadically and on unusual hosts. Here he lives sympathetically in the same living space as the common wood tuck .

Finds of Ixodes inopinatus until 2016
Country place Coordinates number Period Remarks
Algeria Oum Téboul 36 ° 53 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 34 ′ 0 ″  E 32N 2013 at the latest
Germany Bienwald , Rhineland-Palatinate 49 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  E 2W, 1M 2013 at the latest on domestic sheep
Germany Haselmühl , Amberg , Bavaria 49 ° 24 '47.9 "  N , 11 ° 52' 17.8"  E 2W, 5M 2016
Germany Heselbach , Wackersdorf municipality , Bavaria 49 ° 17 '24.9 "  N , 12 ° 11' 48.8"  E 1W, 1M March 2016
Germany Immenstetten , Freudenberg municipality , Bavaria 49 ° 29 '34.5 "  N , 11 ° 53' 1.6"  E 2W, 1N Summer 2015
Germany Immenstetten , Freudenberg municipality , Bavaria 49 ° 29 '34.5 "  N , 11 ° 53' 1.6"  E 13W, 14M, 25N Summer 2016
Morocco Oued Nèfifik 33 ° 26 ′ 0 ″  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 0 ″  E 26N 2013 at the latest
Austria Wald, a village in western Austria 1W September 2015
Portugal Grândola 38 ° 16 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 31 ′ 0 ″  E 56N May 2011
Romania Corbeanca , Ilfov County 44 ° 35 '48.1 "  N , 26 ° 1' 56.6"  E 1W February 2014 on a red fox
Romania Suceava 47 ° 38 '49.2 "  N , 26 ° 15' 4.8"  E 1N October 2014 on a domestic sheep
Spain Ayora 39 ° 4 ′ 48 "  N , 0 ° 58 ′ 48"  E 4W on red foxes
Spain La Pedriza 40 ° 30 '36 "  N , 3 ° 33' 36"  E 3W, 1M, 48N, 116L May 2003 Type location; Larvae and nymphs on Algerian sandpipers
Spain at Guadalajara 41 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  N , 3 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  E 145N
Tunisia Jendouba 36 ° 24 ′ 36 "  N , 8 ° 18 ′ 36"  E 26W, 5M, 44N 1998 to 2007 16 of the nymphs on Algerian sand runners
Number: M - adult, female; M - adult male; N - nymph; L - larva; Notes: not specified - caught by stripping off the vegetation

Ixodes inopinatus is believed to have been identified as a common wood tick in the past. Earlier references to the common wood tick from the south of Spain and Portugal as well as the North African states would then be attributed to Ixodes inopinatus .

Way of life

Ixodes inopinatus is active in winter from November to March. In contrast, the central and southern European wood tick has two phases of greater activity every year, in late spring and autumn.

Ixodes inopinatus feeds on the blood of vertebrates in all three stages - larva, nymph and tick. Adult ticks parasitize mammals and birds, but are rarely found on other hosts.

Hosts of larvae and nymphs are lizards, especially the Algerian sandpiper . In repeated examinations of mammals and birds at all sites, not a single detection of larvae or nymphs of Ixodes inopinatus on other hosts was found. The larvae and nymphs of the common wood tick, on the other hand, primarily attack small mammals .

Medical importance

The North African and southern Spanish ticks, previously considered to be populations of Ixodes ricinus , are known to be carriers of several zoonoses . So far, the pathogens of Borreliosis ( Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Borrelia lusitaniae ), anaplasmosis and Bartonellosis in humans and their livestock and pets have been detected. The rickettsiae Rickettsia helvetica and Rickettsia monacensis were also found.

Two in 2014 found in Romania specimens of Ixodes inopinatus could Rickettsia helvetica and Rickettsia monacensis be detected. Rickettsia was also detected in a nymph found in 2015 in Immenstetten in the Upper Palatinate using a PCR test . However, it was not possible to determine the species because of the insufficient amount of DNA. It seems unlikely, at least for the examined nymph, that the rickettsiae were ingested with a blood meal, since none of the numerous common wood tucks from the same domestic sheep tested positive for rickettsiae. The ability to keep an infection through the process of transformation from the larva to the nymph is a prerequisite for a tick species to be able to transmit it. Further investigations are still pending.

In areas where the common wood tick occurs alone or together with Ixodes inopinatus , different strains of Borrelia lusitaniae are common than in areas where Ixodes inopinatus occurs alone. In addition, Borrelia lusitaniae occurs only rarely in Central European populations of the common wood tick, while it is the predominant species of Borrelia in southwestern Europe and North Africa . Whether this distribution is related to the spread of Ixodes inopinatus remains to be explored.

Systematics

Ixodes inopinatus heard with approximately 250 other types of globally extended genus Ixodes in the family of the ticks (Ixodidae). No subspecies have been described.

Initial description

The first description of Ixodes inopinatus was made in 2014 by three Parasitologen in the journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases . The description was based on the examination of two female and one male ticks, which were collected in May 2003 by stripping them from the vegetation at the type site. There were also 116 larvae and 48 nymphs that were found on Algerian sand runners at the type site.

etymology

The species name inopinatus is the Latin word for "unexpected" and apparently refers to the circumstances of the discovery.

Types

The adult female holotype , one adult female paratype , five larvae and five nymphs are in the United States National Tick Collection , the world's largest collection of ticks in Statesboro , Georgia.

literature

  • Lidia Chitimia-Dobler et al .: Ixodes inopinatus - Occurring also outside the Mediterranean region. In: Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 2017, article in press, doi : 10.1016 / j.ttbdis.2017.09.004 .
  • Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp. (Acari: Ixodidae) . In: Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 2014, Volume 5, No. 6, pp. 734-743, doi : 10.1016 / j.ttbdis.2014.05.003 .
  • R. Noureddine, A. Chauvin and O. Plantard: Lack of genetic structure among Eurasian populations of the tick Ixodes ricinus contrasts with marked divergence from north-African populations. In: International Journal for Parasitology 2011, Volume 41, No. 2, pp. 183-192, doi : 10.1016 / j.ijpara.2010.08.010 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 735.
  2. ^ A b c Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 736.
  3. ↑ a b c Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 737.
  4. ↑ Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 740.
  5. ↑ Thierry de Meeûs et al .: Sex-biased genetic structure in the vector of Lyme disease, Ixodes ricinus. In: Evolution 2002, Volume 56, No. 9, pp. 1802-1807, doi : 10.1554 / 0014-3820 (2002) 056 [1802: SBGSIT] 2.0.CO; 2 .
  6. ^ R. Noureddine, A. Chauvin and O. Plantard: Lack of genetic structure among Eurasian populations of the tick Ixodes ricinus, p. 187.
  7. ↑ a b c R. Noureddine, A. Chauvin and O. Plantard: Lack of genetic structure among Eurasian populations of the tick Ixodes ricinus, p. 189.
  8. ^ R. Noureddine, A. Chauvin and O. Plantard: Lack of genetic structure among Eurasian populations of the tick Ixodes ricinus, p. 190.
  9. ↑ Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 739.
  10. ↑ a b c d Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 738.
  11. ↑ a b c Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 741.
  12. ↑ Lidia Chitimia-Dobler et al .: Ixodes inopinatus - Occurring also outside the Mediterranean region, p. 2.
  13. ^ A b Agustín Estrada-Peña, Santiago Nava and Trevor Petney: Description of all the stages of Ixodes inopinatus n. Sp., P. 742.
  14. ↑ Ali Bouattour et al .: Situation de la Borreliose de Lyme au Maghreb. In: Archives de l'Institut Pasteur de Tunis 2004, Volume 81, No. 1–4, pp. 13–20, online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.labome.org%2Fpdf%2F16929760.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided%3D~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 90 kB.
  15. ↑ Sam R. Telford and Heidi K. Goethert: Emerging and emergent tick-borne infections. In: Alan S. Bowman and Patricia A. Nuttall (Eds.): Ticks. Biology, Disease, and Control. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2008, pp. 344-376, here p. 347, ISBN 978-0-521-86761-0 .
  16. ↑ Trevor N. Petney et al .: Additions to the "Annotated Checklist of the ticks of Germany": Ixodes acuminatus and Ixodes inopinatus. In: Systematic & Applied Acarology 2015, Volume 20, No. 2, pp. 221-224, here p. 222, doi : 10.11158 / saa.20.2.9 .
  17. ↑ Lidia Chitimia-Dobler et al .: Ixodes inopinatus - Occurring also outside the Mediterranean region, pp. 3-4.
  18. ↑ Lidia Chitimia-Dobler et al .: Ixodes inopinatus - Occurring also outside the Mediterranean region, p. 5.