College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI.
Lieutenant Commander, Medical Service Corps, U.S. Navy.
J Med Entomol. 2021 May 15;58(3):1448-1453. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjaa287.
The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, is the primary vector of several tick-borne pathogens, including those causing Lyme disease and babesiosis, in the eastern United States and active collection methods for this species include dragging or wild animal sampling. Nest boxes targeting mice may be an alternative strategy for the surveillance and collection of immature I. scapularis feeding on these hosts and would be much safer for animals compared to small mammal trapping. We constructed double-walled insulated nest boxes (DWINs) with collection tubes mounted below the nesting chamber and deployed eleven in southern Wisconsin from June until September of 2020. The DWINs were occupied by Peromyscus spp. and birds (wren species, Troglodytidae family). We collected 192 ticks from collection tubes, all of which were identified as either I. scapularis (95%) or Dermacentor variabilis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) (5%). Only 12% (21/182) and 20% (2/10) of I. scapularis and D. variabilis were blood-fed, respectively. The high proportion of unfed ticks found in collection tubes may be due to grooming by hosts inside the nest boxes. Alternatively, immature ticks may have climbed trees and entered the DWIN seeking a host. Results suggest that nest boxes could be a tool for finding ticks in areas of low density or at the leading edge of invasion, when small mammal trapping or drag sampling is not feasible.
黑腿蜱（Ixodes scapularis Say）是美国东部几种蜱传病原体的主要传播媒介，包括导致莱姆病和巴贝斯虫病的病原体。这种物种的主动采集方法包括拖拽或野生动物采样。针对老鼠的鸟巢箱可能是监测和采集以这些宿主为食的未成熟黑腿蜱的替代策略，与小型哺乳动物诱捕相比，对动物更安全。我们构建了带有收集管的双层隔热鸟巢箱（DWIN），收集管安装在巢室下方，并于 2020 年 6 月至 9 月在威斯康星州南部部署了 11 个 DWIN。DWIN 被 Peromyscus spp. 和鸟类（鹪鹩科）占据。我们从收集管中收集了 192 只蜱，它们均被鉴定为黑腿蜱（95%）或变色革蜱（Acari: Ixodidae）（5%）。只有 12%（21/182）和 20%（2/10）的黑腿蜱和变色革蜱分别处于血食阶段。收集管中发现的未吸血蜱的高比例可能是由于宿主在巢箱内梳理造成的。或者，未成熟的蜱可能已经爬上树并进入 DWIN 寻找宿主。结果表明，当小型哺乳动物诱捕或拖拽采样不可行时，鸟巢箱可能是在密度较低或入侵前沿地区寻找蜱的工具。
