Distribution of the soft tick Carios vespertilionis in lowlands and low mountain regions of Germany

In Germany, the knowledge about ticks infesting bats is limited, and is restricted only to a few studies, most of them dating back decades. To further improve our knowledge on ticks parasitising bats, healthy and sick bats in central Germany were examined for ticks. In total 519 larvae and one nymph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental and Applied Acarology
Main Authors: Fritzsche, Anja, Zaenker, Stefan, Gottwald, Jannis, Keil, Renate, Zaenker, Christian, Bröker, Michael, Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Springer International Publishing 2023
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Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10462504/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37500955
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-023-00822-2
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Summary:In Germany, the knowledge about ticks infesting bats is limited, and is restricted only to a few studies, most of them dating back decades. To further improve our knowledge on ticks parasitising bats, healthy and sick bats in central Germany were examined for ticks. In total 519 larvae and one nymph of Carios vespertilionis were collected from nine bat species: Eptesicus nilssonii, Eptesicus serotinus, Myotis daubentonii, Myotis myotis, Nyctalus leisleri, Pipistrellus nathusii, Pipistrellus pygmaeus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, and Vespertilio murinus. Either the presence of C. vespertilionis was new for some areas or it was confirmed in some federal states in central Germany. The infestation rate was mostly low (n = 1–5 larvae/bat). However, in two cases a high number of ticks was observed. The highest infestation of 97 C. vespertilionis larvae was recorded on one Parti-coloured bat (V. murinus).