Host associations of the tick, Ixodes angustus (Acari: Ixodidae), on Alaskan mammals.
Infestation parameters are presented for 227 ticks, all Ixodes angustus Neumann, collected from individual mammals (n = 531) in southeastern and south-central Alaska from 1996 to 1999. This tick was recovered from 12 of the 19 mammal species examined, with four species of shrews (Sorex spp.), two species of voles [Clethrionomys gapperi (Vigors) and Clethrionomys rutilus (Pallas)], one species of mouse [Peromyscus keeni (Rhoads)], and the red squirrel [Tamiasciurus hudsonicus (Erxleben)] being the most frequently parasitized hosts. Larvae (n = 146) of I. angustus were collected most often, followed by nymphs (n = 50), females (n = 30), and a single male. The leptinid mammal-nest beetle Leptinus occidentamericanus Peck (1 male, 5 females) was also recovered from five individual small mammals; three of these were C. rutilus.
Department of Biology, and Institute of Arthropodology & Parasitology, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 8056, Statesboro, GA 30460, USA.
Brian P
BP
Murrell
Lance A
LA
Durden
Joseph A
JA
Cook
D000413:Alaska; D000818:Animals; D003081:Cold Climate; D005843:Geography; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D018884:Ixodes / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008322:Mammals / Q000469:parasitology*