Seasonal Distribution of Ticks in Four Habitats near the Demilitarized Zone, Gyeonggi-do (Province), Republic of Korea

Open Access

Abstract

This study describes the seasonal distribution of larvae, nymph, and adult life stages for 3 species of ixodid ticks collected by tick drag and sweep methods from various habitats in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Grasses less than 0.5 m in height, including herbaceous and crawling vegetation, and deciduous, conifer, and mixed forests with abundant leaf/needle litter were surveyed at United States (US) and ROK operated military training sites and privately owned lands near the demilitarized zone from April-October, 2004 and 2005. Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann adults and nymphs were more frequently collected from April-August, while those of Haemaphysalis flava Neumann and Ixodes nipponensis Kitaoka and Saito were collected more frequently from April-July and again during October. H. longicornis was the most frequently collected tick in grass habitats (98.9%), while H. flava was more frequently collected in deciduous (60.2%) and conifer (57.4%) forest habitats. While more H. flava (54.1%) were collected in mixed forest habitats than H. longicornis (35.2%), the differences were not significant. I. nipponensis was more frequently collected from conifer (mean 8.8) compared to deciduous (3.2) and mixed (2.4) forests. ; OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2013-01/102/0000051105/9 ; SEQ:9 ; PERF_CD:SNU2013-01 ; EVAL_ITEM_CD:102 ; USER_ID:0000051105 ; ADJUST_YN:Y ; EMP_ID:A077262 ; DEPT_CD:551 ; CITE_RATE:.881 ; FILENAME:2013 kjp-51-319 seasonal distribution of ticks in four habitats.pdf ; DEPT_NM:수의학과 ; SCOPUS_YN:Y ; CONFIRM:Y