30 June 1975
J. Med. Ent. Vol. 12, no. 2: 240-243
THE BIOLOGY OF THE KANGAROO TICK, ORNITHODOROS (PAVLOVSKYELLA) GURNEYI WARBURTON (ACARINA: ARGASIDAE), IN THE LABORATORY By B. M. Doube1 Abstract: A method for culturing the kangaroo tick Ornitho- After oviposition, eggs were separated and allowed doros gurneyi is described. Data are presented on hardening of to hatch in tubes at 30 °C and 75% RH. newly molted ticks, on the feeding and detaching of all stages,
Although rats and rabbits were the usual laboratory hosts, I have also fed the tick on man, dogs, cattle, mice and kangaroos. In nature it has been Ornithodoros gurneyi Warburton, 1926 is a poorly taken from the Bearded Dragon Lizard, Amphibolurus known argasid tick whose distribution is restricted barbatus (M. Smyth, pers. commun.). to some pastoral areas of the Australian deserts (Henry 1938, Browning 1962). Its principal hosts RESULTS are crepuscular macropods. The tick is found in Feeding and detaching: Most ticks took 3 or 4 days caves frequented by wallabies and in the soil underat 30 °C after hatching or molting for physiological neath shady trees in desert areas where trees are maturation or "hardening" (Gregson 1966) and sparse and there is a resident population of the Red few were able to feed before that time. This Kangaroo, Megaleia rufa (Desmarest). behavior is illustrated by the data in TABLE 1. A laboratory culture was established from ticks There was a proportion (10% to 40%) which did taken from kangaroo wallows in open savannah and not attach after this period even though given ample the feeding, development and behavior of the tick opportunity. was studied in the laboratory. This paper gives All postembryonic stages fed before molting. The data resulting from these studies, which may period spent attached to the host varied with the facilitate establishment of a laboratory culture. stage (TABLE 2). Larvae usually remain attached for 4 to 6 days, but a small proportion fed and MATERIALS AND METHODS detached successfully over a period of 3 days, while others remained attached for up to 12 days (TABLE 2). Ticks were collected from the field at "Moralana" Nymphs and adults remained attached for a much station, which is located 50 km north of Hawker, shorter period. Ticks which attached and engorged South Australia, either by sieving from the soil in on the same day remained attached to the host for which they lived or by using a CO 2 trap similar to that used in South Africa to trap 0. savignyi (Neville between 20 min. and 3 hr. The mean weight of ticks before and after feeding is shown in TABLE 3. 1964). The larvae and nymphs which remained attached In the laboratory, larvae, 1st- and 2nd-instar for more than 1 day detached during the middle of nymphs were fed on virgin female white rats which the photophase of the following days. This mechwere kept in cylindrical cages made of brass rods anism is controlled by circadian rhythms and is the between 2 plastic endpieces. These cages consubject of a separate paper (Doube 1975). strained the rat and so prevented grooming. Later-
on the molting and development of engorged larvae and nymphs, and the regulation of a reproductive diapause.
'Department of Entomology, Waite Research Institute, Glen Osmond, South Australia. Present Address: Division of Entomology, Long Pocket Laboratories, CSIRO, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia.
Molting and development:
I n 0. gurneyi, as in other
TABLE 1. The proportion of Ornithodoros gurneyi that attached and engorged at intervals after molting at 30 °C in deep sand. DAYS
AT 30 °C
J. Med. Ent. Vol. 12, no. 2: 240-243
THE BIOLOGY OF THE KANGAROO TICK, ORNITHODOROS (PAVLOVSKYELLA) GURNEYI WARBURTON (ACARINA: ARGASIDAE), IN THE LABORATORY By B. M. Doube1 Abstract: A method for culturing the kangaroo tick Ornitho- After oviposition, eggs were separated and allowed doros gurneyi is described. Data are presented on hardening of to hatch in tubes at 30 °C and 75% RH. newly molted ticks, on the feeding and detaching of all stages,
Although rats and rabbits were the usual laboratory hosts, I have also fed the tick on man, dogs, cattle, mice and kangaroos. In nature it has been Ornithodoros gurneyi Warburton, 1926 is a poorly taken from the Bearded Dragon Lizard, Amphibolurus known argasid tick whose distribution is restricted barbatus (M. Smyth, pers. commun.). to some pastoral areas of the Australian deserts (Henry 1938, Browning 1962). Its principal hosts RESULTS are crepuscular macropods. The tick is found in Feeding and detaching: Most ticks took 3 or 4 days caves frequented by wallabies and in the soil underat 30 °C after hatching or molting for physiological neath shady trees in desert areas where trees are maturation or "hardening" (Gregson 1966) and sparse and there is a resident population of the Red few were able to feed before that time. This Kangaroo, Megaleia rufa (Desmarest). behavior is illustrated by the data in TABLE 1. A laboratory culture was established from ticks There was a proportion (10% to 40%) which did taken from kangaroo wallows in open savannah and not attach after this period even though given ample the feeding, development and behavior of the tick opportunity. was studied in the laboratory. This paper gives All postembryonic stages fed before molting. The data resulting from these studies, which may period spent attached to the host varied with the facilitate establishment of a laboratory culture. stage (TABLE 2). Larvae usually remain attached for 4 to 6 days, but a small proportion fed and MATERIALS AND METHODS detached successfully over a period of 3 days, while others remained attached for up to 12 days (TABLE 2). Ticks were collected from the field at "Moralana" Nymphs and adults remained attached for a much station, which is located 50 km north of Hawker, shorter period. Ticks which attached and engorged South Australia, either by sieving from the soil in on the same day remained attached to the host for which they lived or by using a CO 2 trap similar to that used in South Africa to trap 0. savignyi (Neville between 20 min. and 3 hr. The mean weight of ticks before and after feeding is shown in TABLE 3. 1964). The larvae and nymphs which remained attached In the laboratory, larvae, 1st- and 2nd-instar for more than 1 day detached during the middle of nymphs were fed on virgin female white rats which the photophase of the following days. This mechwere kept in cylindrical cages made of brass rods anism is controlled by circadian rhythms and is the between 2 plastic endpieces. These cages consubject of a separate paper (Doube 1975). strained the rat and so prevented grooming. Later-
on the molting and development of engorged larvae and nymphs, and the regulation of a reproductive diapause.
'Department of Entomology, Waite Research Institute, Glen Osmond, South Australia. Present Address: Division of Entomology, Long Pocket Laboratories, CSIRO, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia.
Molting and development:
I n 0. gurneyi, as in other
TABLE 1. The proportion of Ornithodoros gurneyi that attached and engorged at intervals after molting at 30 °C in deep sand. DAYS
AT 30 °C
