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Questing height of nymphs of the bush tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, and its closely related species, H. mageshimaensis: correlation with body size of the host

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2004

T. TSUNODA  and
S. TATSUZAWA
T. TSUNODA
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory of Chiba Prefecture, 666-2 Nitona-cho, Chuo-ku, Chiba City 260-8715, Japan
S. TATSUZAWA
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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Abstract

The questing height (i.e. ambush height) of ticks on a plant plays an important role in host selection. To test the hypothesis that the questing height of ticks in a locality had adapted to the body size of the host in that locality, we examined the questing height of nymphs of the ticks, Haemaphysalis longicornis and H. mageshimaensis, at 7 locations in Japan. Sika deer, Cervus nippon, is the primary host of these ticks and there is considerable geographical variation in the body size of sika deer. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the questing height in the field was influenced by the height of the plants and by the body size of deer at a location. However, the questing height of ticks at some locations may have been constrained by the height of the plants and might not be the same as their intrinsic questing height. When ticks were placed in vertical glass tubes in the laboratory, the questing height of ticks from a locality was correlated with the mean body size of deer at that locality. Therefore, the prominent cue determining the questing height of H. longicornis and H. mageshimaensis seems to be the body size of the host deer.

Keywords

geographical variationdeertickhost-seeking behaviourquesting heightlocal adaptationHaemaphysalis longicornisH. mageshimaensis
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 128 , Issue 5 , May 2004 , pp. 503 - 509
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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