Host relationships of Ixodes arvicolae Warburton on the Scilly Isles

Parasitology ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 595-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Rood ◽  
E. T. Burtt

Ixodes arvicolae Warburton was collected at 2-monthly intervals from January 1961 to August 1962 on a total of 226 Apodemus sylvaticus and 264 Crocidura suaveolens cassiteridum in the Scilly Isles. Twenty-one adult females (out of a total forty-two ticks) were found on Apodemus and one adult female (out of a total 106 ticks) on Crocidura. No adult males were found. Ticks were collected from the hosts throughout the year, but in Crocidura there was a suggestion of greater frequency for larvae during the summer. I. arvicolae was also found on Mus musculus in the Scilly Isles and on Microtus agrestis in Cornwall.We wish to thank Professor D. R. Arthur of King's College, University of London, for identification of the ticks involved in this study, and Dr Alec Milne of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne for helpful criticism of the manuscript.

2001 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross L. Goldingay ◽  
Darren G. Quin ◽  
Sue Churchill

A detailed study was conducted over a 12-month period of 10 yellow-bellied glider groups at Nitchaga Creek in north Queensland. Adult gliders were sexually dimorphic in body size and were characterised by yellow ventral fur, which is consistent with southern populations. Gliders lived in groups of 3–6 individuals that occupied exclusive areas of about 50 ha. The structure of glider groups varied enormously: five contained one adult pair, three contained one adult male and 2–3 adult females, and two initially contained 2–3 adult males and one adult female but then persisted as bachelor groups after the death or disappearance of the adult female. Group size changed during the year as offspring matured and as individuals died. One male glider dispersed about 1 km from its natal home-range and became the dominant male in a nearby group. Young were born throughout the year, with a peak in the number of pouch-young in June. This study has confirmed the highly variable social system of the yellow-bellied glider, which appears to be mediated by local resource abundance.


1994 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
WD Sumpton ◽  
MA Potter ◽  
GS Smith

In Moreton Bay, Queensland, externae of Sacculina granifera Boschma were found in 7.0% of adult males and 123% of adult females of Portunus pelagicus. Infection rates were seasonal for both sexes and higher in the adult female population, with more than 20% of adult females carrying externae during some summer months. Infection rates were less than 3% in areas outside the bay and generally highest in the southern and central bay. Nineteen males and 15 females had abdominal scars where externae had become dislodged. The gonads of most parasitized crabs were underdeveloped, but 5.6% of externa-bearing females and 10% of externa-bearing males also had well developed gonads. Two female sand crabs were found with both a small egg mass and a mature externa (a condition not previously reported). Size distributions of infected and uninfected adult crabs were similar, suggesting that large crabs as well as juvenile crabs were likely to be infected.


Behaviour ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 61 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 304-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A. Hinde ◽  
Linda Powell Proctor

AbstractI) Relationships between captive adult female rhesus monkeys were assessed for 6 weeks before and 20 weeks after birth in terms of proximity, approaches and leavings, grooming and agonistic interactions. 2) Before the births, the mothers-to-be spent more time with (and more time grooming with) related than with unrelated individuals. Responsibility for proximity with unrelated adult females to whom the mother was dominant lay primarily with the mother, but where the other female was subordinate it might lie with either party. Mothers-to-be tended to groom adult females dominant to themselves more than they were groomed by them, and vice versa. 3) Differences between the times that mothers-to-be spent near members of different age/sex/rank classes could not be accounted for in terms of generalizations describing preferences of the mothers for members of those classes nor relative preferences of them for her. 4) After the births, members of all age/sex/rank classes tended to be near (and to groom) mothers more when the infants were on the mothers than when they were off but near her, and to be near the mother more when the infants were off but near than when the infants were off and distant from the mother. Proximity between mother and others tended to become more independent of the position of the baby as it developed. 5) Differences between age/sex/rank classes in time spent near the mother after birth were generally similar to those found before birth. The index for the mother's role in maintaining proximity was predominantly negative. 6) All age/sex/rank categories tended to be near the mother less after the birth than before, especially when the infant was off its mother. The differences disappeared with time. Adult males tended to groom the mother less, and adult females to groom her more, than before birth. 7) Changes in proximity between mother and other from before to after birth can be understood in terms of an increase in the attraction of others to mother and a decrease in mothers' affinity for others.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
A.A. Kidov

The purpose of the research: to identify features of the parasite-host relations of the European common tick, Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Hyrcanian meadow lizard, Darevskia praticola hyrcanica (Tuniyev, Doronin, Kidov, et Tuniyev), 2011 in spring period. Materials and methods. The study was carried out in May 2016 in the Gadazyghahi natural boundaries in Astara region of Azerbaijan. The animals were caught on the routes, divided into three mature groups (adult females, males and juvenile lizards) and examined for the presence of ticks. Frequency of occurrence, abundance and location of parasites were determined according to standard methods. Localization of parasites on lizards’ body was defined by the standard scheme. Results and discussion. Only larvae and nymphs of the I. ricinus were found on the lizards. Ticks were found only on 32 lizards of 123 examined. The distribution of ticks in year-old lizards was 10,8%, adult females 28,6%, and adult males 35,3%. The distribution of feeding ticks is aggregated: 26 % of examined lizards were feeders for 100% of ticks. Higher abundance of parasites per one animal was observed in males (on average 3,1±0,78 ticks on one male and 1,6±0,36 on one female). The lowest value of parasite abundance was defined on one-year-old animals (no more than one tick per lizard). The ticks were attached on the forelegs, neck and sides of lizards. 89% of ticks were located under the forelegs. Domestic animals are the main feeders of imago I. ricinus, and the lizards provide feeding for larvae and nymphs.


1978 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 547-568

Meirion Thomas spent all but a year or two of his professional career at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (formerly Armstrong, later King’s College, University of Durham) following army service in World War I. An account of his arrival there says his advent was quite an occasion because of his Oxbridge accent, his air of culture and sophistication, his beautiful manners and his military bearing. At the memorial service for him it was said: ‘Through all the talks about him there runs a note of admiration for the research worker, the teacher, the quintessential bachelor, the regular worshipper at the Cathedral or the Welsh Chapel, and for the least warlike of men with a good first war record.’ Meirion was a quiet, naturally friendly man with a twinkle in his eye and a fine sense of humour, but a persistent shyness gave him a somewhat aloof manner and he maintained a personal reticence which none of his colleagues fully penetrated. He was extremely thorough in all he did and brought to his work high ideals and a sense of duty acquired in youth. He set the highest of standards and his students regarded him with some degree of awe, but in after years many expressed their respect and affection for him and gratitude for the rigorous training he provided.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1291-1310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evert E. Lindquist ◽  
David Evans Walter

All instars of Antennoseius janus n.sp are described. Adult females occur as two distinct morphs, a nondispersing female with granular soft integument, barbed dorsal setae, emarginated opisthonotal shield, and fully developed sternal shield, and a dispersing female with smooth soft integument, nearly smooth dorsal setae, entire opisthonotal shield, and reduced sternal shield. Granular morph females begin egg production within 3 days of mating; however, smooth morph females delay reproduction for many weeks, apparently to disperse. Adult males and immatures have a granular soft integument and barbed setae similar to the granular morph females. Females produced in single animal or low density cultures (less than six individuals per culture) with excess food are granular morphs, whereas in more crowded cultures 5–100% of the maturing females are smooth morphs. This is the first example of adult female dimorphism confirmed experimentally for any family of mites in the entire order Mesostigmata of the Acari. The impact of this phenomenon on taxonomic concepts in the genus Antennoseius is discussed. A key is included, which distinguishes between the genera Anystipalpus Berlese, 1911 and Antennoseius Berlese, 1916, between the subgenera Antennoseius s.str. and Vitzthumia Thor, 1930, and between the seven forms of Vitzthumia currently regarded as species. All instars of A. janus are voracious predators of nematodes and small arthropods. Development from egg to adult takes 9–11 days on a diet of rhabditid nematodes at 23 °C. Generation time for granular morph females is about 14 days. Females require insemination before eggs can be laid, and the sex ratio is about 1 male: 1.3 females.


Parasitology ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Zervos

SummaryBlatticola monandros Zervos lives in the hind gut of the endemic New Zealand cockroach Parellipsidion pachycercum Johns. A field survey showed that infection prevalence was high (54 %) in small nymphs and increased further with cockroach size to a maximum (92 %) in penultimate nymphs. Variance to mean ratios and the Chi-square test for goodness of fit of a Poisson distribution provide strong evidence that the distribution of the nematode was not clumped (over-dispersed) or Poisson (random) but under-dispersed in most host size classes. The modal infrapopulation type consisted of 1 adult male and 1 adult female. Other infrapopulations were transitional to this type. Monogamous infrapopulations increased in prevalence with increased host size. Juvenile males were uncommon and probably develop faster into adults than juvenile females. Infrapopulations with 2 juvenile males were very rare and no cockroach contained 2 adult males, although some contained 2 adult females. Seasonal variations in prevalence and infrapopulation structure were slight over a 3 year period, except during one unusually dry summer. During the drought, prevalence of monogamous infrapopulations and of transitional infrapopulations were lowest, while prevalence of single-worm and single-sex infrapopulations were greatest. It is evident that competition between females reduces fecundity. When only 1 adult female nematode is present in an adult cockroach, more eggs are produced than the total produced if 2 adult females are present. Eggs were produced cyclically with short periods of high egg production interspersed with several days of very low or no egg production. Most eggs produced on any one day were attached to the outer surface of only 1 of the up-to-6 faecal pellets produced by the host/day. Mechanisms which may regulate infrapopulations and control reproductive competition and cyclical egg production are discussed. It is suggested that B. monandros regulates its own infrapopulation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 951-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy G Solomon ◽  
Joseph J Jacquot

Many studies have documented intraspecific differences in the behavior of males or females. In some species, many adults are territorial while others have larger home ranges encompassing multiple territories. Although these two types of behavior have been documented, they are not well understood in mammals. Therefore, in the mono gamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) we characterized individuals that engage in these two behavior patterns as residents and wanderers. We monitored populations enclosed in 0.1-ha. enclosures at Miami University's Ecology Research Center. As many as 26% of animals were wanderers: animals captured frequently, but less than 75% of the time, at one nest. As expected, wanderers had larger home ranges than residents. Wanderers were primarily adult males (70%) but included some adult females. This behavior pattern was not fixed, since some wanderers previously had been residents and at least 31% of males and 57% of adult female wanderers became residents during the same field season. Wanderers were not in worse physical condition, as estimated by body mass, and survived for slightly longer than residents. Thus, it does not appear that wanderers are making the best of a bad situation, but analysis of parentage is critical to validate this conclusion.


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