Mixed-sex clusters on grass blades: breeding strategy of the ornate dog tick, Dermacentor reticulatus
Dagmara Wężyk, Wiktoria Romanek, Wiktoria Małaszewicz, Jerzy M. Behnke, Anna Bajer

TL;DR
This study shows that the ornate dog tick forms mixed-sex clusters on grass, which may help it breed more efficiently and increase its population rapidly.
Contribution
The study provides evidence that D. reticulatus uses mixed-sex clusters as an efficient breeding strategy.
Findings
Mixed-sex clusters were significantly more common than single-sex clusters on grass stems.
The maximum number of ticks found on a single grass stem was six.
Pheromone-mediated aggregation is hypothesized to support the tick's rapid population growth.
Abstract
The ornate dog tick Dermacentor reticulatus is second only to the hard tick Ixodes ricinus in terms of importance as a vector of infectious organisms, especially of Babesia canis, the agent of canine babesiosis. Both the geographical range and local densities of D. reticulatus are steadily increasing in many regions of Europe. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that D. reticulatus possesses an efficient breeding strategy that allows for a rapid increase in tick numbers and densities through the formation of mixed-sex clusters/aggregations while questing in the environment. An observational study was carried out in the spring of 2023, at three sites in two regions in Central and North-Eastern Poland, both characterised by high tick densities. At each site, a 400-m-long transect was inspected for questing ticks. All noted ticks were collected, and tick numbers and sexes per…
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Taxonomy
TopicsVector-borne infectious diseases · Insect and Pesticide Research · Vector-Borne Animal Diseases
