Population variability of some quantitative characters in Argas polonicus larvae (Acarina: Argasidae)
Dusbábek, F.
Folia Parasitologica 36(3): 281-287
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-5683 PMID: 2583617 Document Number: 336594
Variation in morphometric characters was studied in larvae of 2 populations of A. polonicus collected from pigeons in Kosice (Czechoslovakia) and Krakow (Poland). Statistically significant differences in 5 characters (hypostome length, palpal segment II length, dorsal plate width, anterodorsal seta length, posterodorsal seta length), in which both wild populations differed from one another, disappeared during 3 generations of laboratory rearing. The variability of these characters was lower in laboratory populations than in field-collected ticks. The results of hybridization experiments and analysis of variability of larvae of individual populations and parental pairs suggest that adaptive rather than genetic variation is involved.