The larval development of Dipetalonema rugosicauda (syn. Wehrdlikmansia rugosicauda) in the tick Ixodes ricinus. I. Infection of ticks with microfilariae using artificial feeding techniques
Winkhardt, H.J.
Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie 30(4): 455-462
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0303-4208 PMID: 575448 Document Number: 151061
Nymphs, females and males of I. ricinus and nymphs of I. hexagonus were fed by means of glass capillaries fitted to the hypostomes. About 88% of the nymphs, 100% of the females, 66.7% of the males of I. ricinus and 50% of the nymphs of I. hexagonus took up a mixture of calf serum, human serum Medium 199-Hanks and Medium Krebs-III. The average quantities of uptake were 2.7 mm3 for nymphs of I. ricinus and 5.2 mm3 for nymphs of I. hexagonus during 62 h; respectively, and 16.2 mm3 for females of I. ricinus during 68 h. Feeding experiments with different membranes (Parafilm M, latex, cellophane, artificial skin of a sausage and fresh gut of a cow) were not successful. I. ricinus was infected with microfilariae of D. rugosicauda, a subcutaneous filaria of the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), by feeding through glass capillaries. Infective larvae were obtained from nymphs 66 days after offering a medium containing uterine microfilariae. The microfilariae only developed if the ticks were enabled to complete their engorgement on a rabbit after the artificial infection. Without additional feeding the microfilariae did not develop but remained alive and active for weeks. The infective larvae obtained in these experiments were identical with infective filarial larvae found in 7 of 159 females and males of I. ricinus, caught in a forest near Biberach/Baden-Wurttemberg [West Germany]. I. ricinus is apparently the vector of D. rugosicauda (syn. Wehrdikmansia rugosicauda).