Bull C M, Burzacott D, Sharrad R D
School of Biological Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia, 5042, Bedford Park, S.A., Australia.
Department of Science, Underdale Campus, South Australian College of Advanced, Education, 5032, Underdale, S.A., Australia.
Oecologia. 1989 Jun;79(4):558-562. doi: 10.1007/BF00378675.
Aponomma hydrosauri and Amblyomma limbatum are tick species with the same major host species, the sleepy lizard Trachydosaurus rugosus, but parapatric distributions in South Australia. Near Mt. Mary one species is abruptly replaced by the other over one kilometre. There is substantial overlap in feeding sites on the hosts. This suggested that interspecific competition, during feeding, may be an important mechanism preventing further overlap of the distributions of the two species. However, in the overlap region there was no resource shortage, and each species infested hosts independently of the other species. Also in laboratory experiments at the highest densities encountered in the field, larvae and nymphs of each species attached and engorged equally well whether alone or mixed with the other species. These data refuted the, hypothesis of interspecific competition between the two species while feeding.
水龙硬蜱和缘纹硬蜱是两种蜱虫，它们的主要宿主都是嗜睡蜥蜴粗鳞蜥，但在南澳大利亚呈邻域分布。在玛丽山附近，一种蜱虫在一公里的范围内突然被另一种蜱虫取代。它们在宿主身上的取食部位有大量重叠。这表明在取食过程中的种间竞争可能是阻止这两个物种分布进一步重叠的重要机制。然而，在重叠区域不存在资源短缺的情况，每个物种侵染宿主的情况相互独立。同样，在实验室实验中，模拟野外遇到的最高密度时，每个物种的幼虫和若虫无论单独存在还是与另一个物种混合，附着和饱食情况都一样好。这些数据驳斥了这两个物种在取食时存在种间竞争的假说。
