Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
stages that also parasitize birds. During a major ectoparasitic study in the KFD area
involving 8,474 birds belonging to 184 species, the genus Haemaphysalis
accounted for 99.5% of all the ticks collected and H. spinigera was the most com-
mon species of Haemaphysalis, closely followed by H. turturis and nine other spe-
cies, including H. megalaimae. During a major study in India on birds of the
Shimoga district, there was no evidence of birds transporting ticks from other
countries.
Allophysalis adult parasitizes members of the rich Asian-mountain artiodactyl
fauna and less often, domestic artiodactyls, marmots, and humans. Adult activity is
recorded chiefly during spring and fall, and that of immatures from late spring to
fall. Adults are recorded from domestic goats, sheep, cattle, and yaks, and from the
wild goral, serow, thar, musk deer, and ibex. Immatures parasitize rodents, chiefly
Alticola, Cricetulus, and Marmota, and also hares and the rock-dwelling pika
Ochotona (Lagomorpha). Large ground-feeding birds such as the monal pheasant
are also important hosts of immature H. (A.) warburtoni.
Immatures of each contemporary Alloceraea species commonly feed on shrews
and rodents; bird hosts have also been recorded. Adults chiefly parasitize
Artiodactyla such as the yak, a variety of deer, wild and domestic sheep and goats,
and occasionally carnivores (bear, wild cat, etc.). Adults also infest domestic cattle,
buffaloes, and horses. Few other Haemaphysalis species are associated with domes-
tic herbivores; the fact that all SP adults (except Sharifiella) feed on domestic ani-
mals is apparently significant in the survival of this relict group. Lizards are
important hosts of immature H. (A.) inermis in Palearctic lowlands. However, rep-
tiles are rare or absent in the highland and more northern habitats where other
Alloceraea species such as H. aponommoides have survived.
Aboimisalis species differs distinctly biologically and ecologically. Immature
and adult H. (A.) cornupunctata are from wild or domestic artiodactyls. Immatures
and adults are sometimes taken from one artiodactyl host, but immatures are not
found on insectivores or rodents examined in the same collecting localities in
Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Parasitism of the same kind of host by
immatures and adults, seen among SP subgenera only in Sharifiella, occurs in few
species of SA subgenera. All H. (A.) cornupunctata records are from the spring and
fall seasons. Ecologically, H. (A.) cornupunctata is similar to most other SP ticks
but quite different from the three other Aboimisalis species.
Immatures of members of Herpetobia, H. nepalensis, and H. sundrai infest the
same hosts as adults. Larval and nymphal H. kashmirensis chiefly infests the lizard
Agama tuberculata. Hosts of immature H. sulcata include numerous lizards,
snakes, tortoises, birds nesting in, on, or near the ground.
3.2 Host-Related Structural Adaptations and Evolution
85
It is postulated that Haemaphysalis species co-evolved with birds and mammals
throughout much of the world. During this process,
these ticks have adapted
