The tick Ixodes brunneus Koch (Acari: Ixodidae) is reported for the first time in Michigan from two bird hosts at two locations in the lower peninsula. All stages of this tick exclusively feed on birds, and are primarily known from the southern U.S., although abundant records occur from northern states. The role of this species as a vector of pathogens is discussed

Hamer, Sarah A

Keith, Brenda S

Keith, Richard S

Scharf, William C

English

Valparaiso University

The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 48 Numbers 3/4 -- Fall/Winter 2015 Numbers 3/4 -- Fall/Winter 2015 Article 15 October 2015 Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New Michigan Tick Richard S. Keith Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory, Kalamazoo Nature Center Brenda S. Keith Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory, Kalamazoo Nature Center William C. Scharf Lake Superior State University Sarah A. Hamer Texas A&M University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle  Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Keith, Richard S.; Keith, Brenda S.; Scharf, William C.; and Hamer, Sarah A. 2015. "Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New Michigan Tick," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 48 (3) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol48/iss3/15 This Peer-Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 2015 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 2011Director, Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo, MI 49009. (e-mail: warblerrke@gmail.com). 2 Field Biologist, Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo, MI 49009. 3 Department of Biology Lake Superior State University, present address 6241 Summit Ct., Traverse City, MI 49686. (e-mail: wcscharf@charter.net).4 Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, 4458 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77845.Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New Michigan TickRichard S. Keith1, Brenda S. Keith2, William C. Scharf3, and Sarah A. Hamer4AbstractThe tick Ixodes brunneus Koch (Acari: Ixodidae) is reported for the first time in Michigan from two bird hosts at two locations in the lower peninsula. All stages of this tick exclusively feed on birds, and are primarily known from the southern U.S., although abundant records occur from northern states. The role of this species as a vector of pathogens is discussed.  ____________________The authors regularly mist-netted and banded birds during spring and fall migration. RSK and BSK collected ticks at the Pitsfield Banding Station, 42°10′ N, 85° 30′ W, near Vicksburg, MI, where approximately 60,000 birds were checked for ticks during 14 of the last 18 years of spring, summer, and fall field research. WCS collected ticks at Chippewa Run Banding Station, 44° 49′ N, 86° 31′ W, near Empire, MI, where approximately 2,500 birds were checked for ticks over 8 seasons of spring and fall field research.  Ticks were preserved in 70% ethanol and identified based on the taxonomic criteria outlined by Cooley and Kohls (1945), Keirans and Clifford (1978), and Keirans and Litwak (1989). We collected two engorged or partially engorged adult female Ixodes brunneus Koch from two species of ground-level foraging migratory birds. The bird host at Pitsfield was a White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis (Gmelin) captured on 18 April 2010 (Figure 1).  The bird host at Chippewa Run was a Lincoln’s Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii (Audubon) captured on 7 May 2015 and is deposited in the U.S. National Tick Collection (Catalogue no. USNMENT00862224). Additionally, the identification of the Vicksburg tick was confirmed based on amplification and DNA sequencing of the tick 12S mitochondrial rRNA gene (Beati and Keirans 2001) from a single tick leg. The DNA sequence from the Vicksburg tick shared >99% homology with an I. brun-neus nymph from North Carolina, and has been made available in a national database for future analyses (Genbank accession no. KT748755).DiscussionOur collections of I. brunneus are apparently the first reported from Michi-gan. Walker et al. (1998) documented 21 species of ixodid ticks (hard ticks) from Michigan in a 12-year passive survey based on tick submissions from citizens. That survey found no I. brunneus even though there were 12 other species in the genus Ixodes that were encountered.  Additionally, Hamer et al. (2011, 1Keith et al.: Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New MichPublished by ValpoScholar, 2015202 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 48, Nos. 3 - 42012) identified over 12,000 ticks removed from Michigan birds at the Pitsfield field site and found no I. brunneus; the majority were I. dentatus Marx (Acari: Ixodidae) and Haemaphysalis leporispalustris (Packard) (Acari: Ixodidae) with I. scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) and Dermacentor variabilis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) infrequently found.All stages of I. brunneus exclusively feed on birds, and are primarily known from the southern U.S. (Luttrell et al. 1996, Goddard 2013, Godard et al. 2013), although abundant records occur from northern states (Cooley and Kohls 1945, Durden and Keirans 1996). Boyd (1951) lists 64 species of birds that have been reported as hosts of this tick. Both avian hosts in this study- Lincoln’s Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow- are potential long-distance migrants (Chartier et al. 2011) and the probability of them bringing this tick from a southerly location seems high considering both captures were during the spring migration. Further, both host species do not nest at the site at which they were captured, but do nest in large numbers across northern latitudes including northern Michigan. Clifford et al. (1969) reported Rickettsia rickettsii Brumpt, causative or-ganism for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, from one pool of I. brunneus from migratory birds, although the vector potential is unknown. Avian tick paralysis has been described by Luttrell (1996) and is caused by salivary neurotoxins from the female I. brunneus that cause paralysis of the diaphragm and respiratory failure (Mullen and Hribar 1991). This paralysis can lead to mortality in birds. Figure 1.   Infestation of a white-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis (Gmelin) captured on 18 April 2010 in Vicksburg, MI, with an adult female Ixodes brunneus tick. Photo credit: Richard Keith.2The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 48, No. 3 [2015], Art. 15https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol48/iss3/152015 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 203AcknowledgmentsWe thank the many staff and volunteers at Pitsfield Banding Station over the years, without their help we could not have found the time to remove so many ticks; Jean Tsao of Michigan State University for field support; Erik Fos-ter, Michigan Department of Community Health and Lorenza Beati of Georgia Southern University for aid in tick identification; Lisa Auckland of Texas A&M University for molecular support; Alice Van Zoeren for help in establishing the Chippewa Run Banding Station; and the Leelanau Conservancy for allowing us to use their land.Literature CitedBeati, L., and J. E. Keirans. 2001. Analysis of the systematic relationships among ticks of the genera Rhipicephalus and Boophilus (Acari: Ixodidae) based on mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA gene sequences and morphological characters. Journal of Para-sitology 87: 32–48.Boyd, E. M. 1951. The external parasites of birds: a review. The Wilson Bulletin 63: 363-369.Chartier, A. T., J. J. Baldy, and J. M. Brenneman. 2011.  The Second Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas, 2002-2008.  Kalamazoo Nature Center.  Kalamazoo, MI.  708p.Available from: www.MIBirdAtlas.org  (accessed November 2015). Clifford, C. M., D. E. Sonenshine, E. L. Atwood, C. S. Robbins, and L. E. Hughes. 1969. Tests of ticks from wild birds in the Eastern United States for rickettsiae and viruses. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 18: 1056-1061.Cooley, R. A., and G. M. Kohls. 1945. The Genus Ixodes in North America. National Institute of Health Bulletin No. 184. U. S. Government Printing Office.Durden, L. A., and J. E. Keirens. 1996. Nymphs of the Genus Ixodes (Acari: Ixodidae) of the United States: Taxonomy, Identification Key, Distribution, Hosts, and Medi-cal Veterinary Importance. Thomas Say Publications in Entomology, Entomological Society of America, Lanham, MD.Hamer S. A., G. J. Hickling, J. L. Sidge, M. E. Rosen, E. D. Walker, and J. I. Tsao. 2011. Diverse Borrelia burgdorferi strains in a bird-tick cryptic cycle. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 77: 1999-2007.Hamer, S. A., G. J. Hickling, R. Keith, J. L. Sidge, E. D. Walker, and J. I. Tsao. 2012. Associations of passerine birds, rabbits, and ticks with Borrelia miyamotoi and Borrelia andersoni in Michigan, U.S.A. Parasites and Vectors 5: 231.Goddard, J. 2013. Observations on questing activity of Ixodes brunneus Koch in Mississippi. Journal of Parasitology 99: 275-277.Goddard, J., L. Goltz, and R. G. Robbins.  2013. New records of immature Ixodes brunneus Koch from Mississippi.  Journal of Vector Ecology 38: 415-416.Keirans, J. E., and C. M. Clifford, 1978. The genus Ixodes in the United States: a scan-ning electron microscope study and key to adults. Journal of Medical Entomology. Supplement 2: 1-149.Keirans, J. E., and T. R. Litwak, 1989. Pictorial key to the adults of hard ticks, family Ixodidae (Ixodida: Ixodoidea) east of the Mississippi. Journal of  Medical Entomology 26: 435-448.Luttrell, M. P., L. H. Creekmore, and J. W. Mertins. 1996. Avian tick paralysis caused by Ixodes brunneus in the Southeastern United States. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 32: 133-136.3Keith et al.: Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New MichPublished by ValpoScholar, 2015204 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 48, Nos. 3 - 4Mullen, G. R., and L. J. Hribar. 1991. Tick paralysis observed in wild birds. Highlights Agricultural Research. Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station 38: 12.Walker, E. D., M. G. Stobierski, M. L. Poplar, T. W. Smith, A. J. Murphy, P. C. Smith, S. M. Schmitt, T. M. Cooley, and C. M. Kramer. 1998. Geographic distribution of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Michigan, with special emphasis on Ixodes scapularis and Borrelia burgdorferi.   Journal of Medical Entomology 35: 872-882.4The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 48, No. 3 [2015], Art. 15https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol48/iss3/15

Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New Michigan Tick

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Ixodes brunneus (Acari: Ixodidae) from Two Bird Hosts: A New Michigan Tick

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