The life cycle of Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis (Acari: Ixodidae) ticks under laboratory conditions
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The life cycle of Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis (Acari: Ixodidae) ticks under laboratory conditions Miling Ma • Guiquan Guan • Ze Chen • Zhijie Liu • Aihong Liu Huitian Gou • Qiaoyun Ren • Youquan Li • Qingli Niu • Jifei Yang • Hong Yin • Jianxun Luo
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Received: 24 April 2012 / Accepted: 12 September 2012 / Published online: 31 October 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract The developmental stages in the life cycle of Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis were investigated under laboratory conditions. The larval, nymphal and adult ticks were fed on sheep at 25–27 °C, 50 % relative humidity (RH) and exposed to daylight. All free-living stages were maintained in an incubator (28 °C with 90 % RH and a 12-h photoperiod). The whole life cycle of H. qinghaiensis was completed in an average of 176 days (range 118–247 days). The average developmental periods were 34.44 days for egg incubation; 5.83, 4.20 and 33.70 days for larval pre-feeding, feeding and pre-molting; and 3.88, 5.30 and 46.50 days for nymphal pre-feeding, feeding and pre-molting. The average times for pre-feeding, feeding, pre-oviposition and oviposition of female adult ticks were 2.60, 11.40, 8.50, and 19.35 days, respectively. The results confirmed the positive correlation between the weight of the engorged female and the egg mass laid (r = 0.557, P \ 0.05). The reproductive efficiency index and reproductive fitness index in females were 5.49 and 4.98, respectively. Engorged nymphs moulting to females (4.53 ± 0.16 mg) were significantly heavier (P \ 0.001) than those moulting to males (3.45 ± 0.19 mg). The overall sex ratio of the adult ticks was 1:1.1 (M:F). Keywords
Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis Sheep Life cycle Laboratory conditions
Introduction Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis, an ixodid tick species, is only recorded in China (Gao et al. 2007a, b, 2008, 2009; Li et al. 2007). It is particularly prevalent in the western plateau, M. Ma G. Guan Z. Chen Z. Liu A. Liu H. Gou Q. Ren Y. Li Q. Niu J. Yang H. Yin (&) J. Luo (&) State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Lab of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health of Ministry of Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] J. Luo e-mail: [email protected]
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Exp Appl Acarol (2013) 59:493–500
including the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Tibet (Li et al. 2007; Teng 1991). This three-host tick infests mainly ruminants (Gao et al. 2008) and its debilitating effects on its hosts mainly attribute to blood loss and transmission of pathogens, such as Theileria uilenbergi, Theileria luwenshuni, Theileria sinensis (Li et al. 2007, 2009; Yin et al. 2002a, b, c) and Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) (Guan et al. 2002, 2010). Both Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis infestation and H. qinghaiensis-transmitted protozoal diseases resulted in a major econo
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