Local Formation of High Population Density of the Ticks Dermacentor reticulatus (Parasitiformes, Ixodidae) in Tomsk

Abstract

The meadow tick Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794) was sporadically recorded earlier on the south outskirts of the city of Tomsk. Examination of the Tom River high bank on which trees and shrubs had been removed by a destructive landslide at the end of the XX century and which had since been overgrown with herbaceous vegetation, revealed high abundance of D. reticulatus: 42 ind./km of survey route in September 2015 and 66 ind./km in late April 2016. It is hypothesized that for several consecutive years, most of the larvae and nymphs completed their development within one summer and managed to molt to adults before the autumn drop of temperature, which resulted in such an abrupt increase in the meadow tick density. The rapid preimaginal development was possible due to increased temperatures on the surface of the south-southwest facing slope in the absence of tree canopy.