Vol 27 No 2 December - The Indian Society for Parasitology

112 Human Infesting Ixodid Ticks of Kerala
JPD : Vol. 27 (2), 2003
The members of the genus Haemaphysalis have been Neumann 1987 (Acarina: Ixodidae) under natural condition in
reported earlier as the common parasites of monkeys
KFD area. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 82 (3): 548-562.
(Trapido et al., 1964, rodents and sheep (Saxena, Dhanda V. 1996. Rhipicephalus ramachandrai sp. n. (Acarina:
Ixodidae) from Indian Gerbil, Tatera indica. J. Parasit., 52 (I):
1997) and also on cattle and buffaloes (Varma et al., 1025-1031.
1957). Recovery of the members of this genus from the
Dhanda V and T Ramachandra Rao. 1964. A report on the
forest vegetation surveyed during the current study collection of Ixodid ticks made in the north east frontier agency
suggests their ability to enjoy wide host range India. Indian Med. Res., 52:1139-1153.
including the wild and domestic animals of Kerala. Fourie LJ and IG Horak. 1990. Sites of attachment and
intraspecific infestation densities of brown paralysis tick on
The number of ticks recorded during early morning Angora goats. Exp. Appl. Acarol., 12 (3-4): 243-249.
hours was comparatively low, particularly from. Geevarghese G. 1997. A check list of Indian ticks (Ixodidae) Indian
ground vegetation. Probably, the morning dew might J. Anim. Sci., 67 (3): 566-574.
have exerted an adverse effect on the climbing Hoogstraal H. 1970. Haemaphysalis davisi sp. n. - A parasite of
behaviour of ticks to surface vegetation. The wet domestic and wild mammals in Northern India, Sikkim and
Burma. J. parasitol., 56:588-595.
nature of the flag also can be accounted for the lesser
Horak IG, Boomker J and JR Flamand. 1995. Parasites of domestic
number of ticks recovered, as the efficiency of dry and wild animals in South Africa. Arthropod parasites of nyalas
flags would always be greater than that of wet ones in North Eastern Kwazulu - Natal. Oonderstepoort J. Vet. Res.,
(Sonenshine, 1971).
62 (3): 171-179.
Results of the present study also helped to correlate the
Jagannath MS, Alwar V S and CM Lalitha. 1973. Ixodid ticks of
domestic stock in Tamil Nadu. Indian. J. Anim. Sci., 43:119-
questing height of the various species of ticks with the 124.
size of host animals concerned. This observation Jagannath MS, Lokesh YV and Abdul Rahman. 1986. Studies on
seems to support the earlier study of Fourie et al the prevalence of ixodid ticks on buffaloes in Kolar district
(South India). Cherion, 15 :180-186.
(1990) who correlated the questing height of ticks with
Kolonin GV. 1995. Review of ixodid tick fauna (Acari: Ixodidae)
the size of the host. The study further helped to trace
of Vietnam. J. Med. Entomol., 32 (3): 276-82.
active host searching ability of immature ticks during
Miranpuri GS and RC Naithani. 1978. A checklist of Indian ticks
the dry part of the year, thereby substantiating the (Ixodoidea: Acarina) Indian Veterinary Research Institute,
results of earlier studies of Varma et al. (1957).
Izatnagar, pp.50.
Saxena VK. 1997. Ixodid ticks infesting rodents and sheep in
The human infesting species collected during the study
diverse biotopes of South India. J. Parasitol., 83 (4): 766-767.
included the various developmental stages of H.
Sen P. 1938. A check and host list of Ixodoidea (Ticks) occurring in
spinigera, H. turturis and Aponomma sp., all of which India. Indian. Vet. Sci., 133-149.
were found feeding from concealed sites like shoulder
Sharif M. 1928. A revision of the Indian Ixodidae with special
and hip joints on human body. This observation clearly reference to the collections in the Indian museum. Rec. Indian
substantiates the anthrophilic nature of the above Museum, 30: 217-344.
species of ticks. The scars left behind often were found Sonenshine DE. 1971. Mass rearing of radio isotope tagged larval
lasting for years. The data obtained from tribals and tick for ecological investigations. (Acarina: Ixodidae) J. Econ.
Entomol., 64:1423-29.
forest personnels supplemented with the current
Trapido H, Govardhanan M K, Rajagopalan PK and Rebello MJ.
observations made on ticks enabled to record ticks as 1964. Tick ectoparasites on monkeys in the KFD area of
the most annoying pests of wild and domestic animals Shimoga district, Mysore state. India. Amer. Trop.Med.Hyg.,
and man, especially in the forest ecosystem surveyed 13:736-772.
during the study. More extensive studies are warranted Trapido H, Varma MGR, Rajagopalan P K, Singh KRP and MJ
to trace the vector role of these ticks and the pathogenic
Rebello. 1964. A guide to the identification of all stages of the
Haemaphysalis ticks of South India. Bull. Ent. Res., 55: 249-
status of the various micro organisms harboured by 270.
them in the above area.
Varma MGR, Harold Trapido and PK Rajagopalan. 1957. Studies
on ticks as possible vectors of Kyasannur Forest Disease.
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the genera Dermacentor Anacentor, Cosmiomma, Boophilus infestation of wild birds of mammals on a game ranch in central
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Bhat HR. 1985. Observations on the biology of H. spinigera