Dead Deer do Tell Tales: Infestation of Road-killed White-tailed Deer by Juvenile Ixodes Scapularis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) Ticks.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Journal of Medical Entomology, 2025, v. 62, no. 5: Dead Deer do Tell Tales: Infestation of Road-killed White-tailed Deer by Juvenile Ixodes Scapularis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) Ticks.
• Journal Article:
  Journal of Medical Entomology
• Personal Author:
  Landesman, William J. ; Serra, Abigail C. ; Allan, Brian F.
• Description:
  The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) contributes indirectly to the enzootic circulation of the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi by serving as the primary reproductive host for adult-stage blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis). The role of white-tailed deer as a host for juvenile life stages is less well understood, in part because their periods of activity typically fall outside of most white-tailed deer hunting seasons. We inspected 22 road-killed deer for all stages of blacklegged ticks in Rutland County, Vermont from May to August in 2020, 2021, and 2024. Adult-stage blacklegged ticks were found attached to ten deer in May and early June. Larval-stage ticks, including ones that were partially engorged, were found on 3/5 deer inspected by hanging the head, hide, and legs over water for approximately 24 hours. We directly observed 7 nymphal-stage ticks attached to one additional deer. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that the role of juvenile feeding on white-tailed deer may be underestimated and demonstrates that the study of road-killed deer may improve our understanding of how populations of blacklegged ticks are maintained among wildlife communities.
• Content Notes:
  Author manuscript
• Subjects:
  • Animals
  • Deer
  • Ixodes
  • Tick Infestations
  • Nymph
  • Vermont
  • Larva
  • Female
• Keywords:
  • Ixodes scapularis
  • Odocoileus virginianus
  • feeding behavior
• Source:
  Journal of Medical Entomology, 2025, v. 62, no. 5
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaf094
• ISSN:
  0022-2585 ; 1938-2928
• Pubmed ID:
  40650528
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC12351483
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  R03 AI159287/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 CK000661/CK/NCEZID CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01CK000661/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; R03Al159287/NH/NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01CK000661/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; R03Al159287/NH/NIH HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Pages in Document:
  1372-1376 (10 pdf pages)
• Volume:
  62
• Issue:
  5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/261266/cdc_261266_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.07 MB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2b64f7e39805531e791d4d73c972a6f834e214a357e005715301e1e46886d65ffc95955e1f57bbd78805b7c10041fec15619fedb7abed1229d646fe78205397b