title: Distribution pattern and number of ticks on lizards.
abstract: The success of ectoparasites depends primarily on the site of attachment and body condition of their hosts. Ticks usually tend to aggregate on vertebrate hosts in specific areas, but the distribution pattern may depend on host body size and condition, sex, life stage or skin morphology. Here, we studied the distribution of ticks on lizards and tested the following hypothesis: occurrence or high abundance of ticks is confined with body parts with smaller scales and larger interscalar length because such sites should provide ticks with superior attachment conditions. This study was performed in field conditions in central Poland in 2008-2011. In total, 500 lizards (Lacerta agilis) were caught and 839 ticks (Ixodes ricinus, larvae and nymphs) were collected from them. Using generalised linear mixed models, we found that the ticks were most abundant on forelimbs and their axillae, with 90% of ticks attached there. This part of the lizard body and the region behind the hindlimb were covered by the smallest scales with relatively wide gaps between them. This does not fully support our hypothesis that ticks prefer locations with easy access to skin between scales, because it does not explain why so few ticks were in the hindlimb area. We found that the abundance of ticks was positively correlated with lizard body size index (snout-vent length). Tick abundance was also higher in male and mature lizards than in female and young individuals. Autotomy had no effect on tick abundance. We found no correlation between tick size and lizard morphology, sex, autotomy and body size index. The probability of occurrence of dead ticks was positively linked with the total number of ticks on the lizard but there was no relationship between dead tick presence and lizard size, sex or age. Thus lizard body size and sex are the major factors affecting the abundance of ticks, and these parasites are distributed nearly exclusively on the host's forelimbs and their axillae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Institute of Zoology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71 C, 60-625 Poznań, Poland. Electronic address: dudeekk@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Mickiewicza 33, 31-120 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Skórka
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Didactics Biology and Nature, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Zofia Anna
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Sajkowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioural Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ekner-Grzyb
authors.affiliation: Laboratry of Neurobiology, Institute of Zoology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71 C, 60-625 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Institute of Zoology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71 C, 60-625 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tryjanowski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D018884:Ixodes / Q000502:physiology*; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D008116:Lizards / Q000469:parasitology*; D008297:Male; D009758:Nymph / Q000502:physiology; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: Dead ticks; Distribution; Ectoparasites; Ixodes ricinus; Lacerta agilis