Pigeon tick
| Pigeon tick | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Starved female argas reflexus (5 mm) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Argas reflexus | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius ), 1794 |
The pigeon tick ( Argas reflexus ) is a type of leather tick . It prefers pigeons as a host , less often other birds. When it is very hungry, it also sucks on people, but then dies within a few days.
The fully-grown (adult) females are suckled up to 10 mm long, the males only about 4 mm. Both larvae and adults are always longer than they are wide. During the day, the animals stay in caves, holes or cracks near the nests of their host animals. Each larval stage must suck blood once for several days for further development. The adult females take in blood briefly several times for 20 to 40 minutes and then lay 12 to 70 eggs each time. So far only allergic reactions up to anaphylactic shock have been reliably proven in humans . The pigeon tick is also suspected of being able to transmit the causative agent of Q fever Coxiella burnetii .
swell
- ↑ Urania-Tierreich, Invertebrates 2, Urania-Verlag Leipzig 1969.
- ↑ J. Süss, V. Fingerle, K.-P.Hunfeld, C. Schrader, B. Wilske (2004): Human pathogenic and previously non- pathogenic microorganisms in Europe transmitted by ticks. Part II: Bacteria, Parasites and Mixed Infections. Federal Health Gazette - Health Research - Health Protection 47: 470–486.