Host-Associations and Seasonal Abundance of Immature Ixodes dammini1 in Southeastern Massachusetts2

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Abstract
The bionomics of immature Ixodes dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman and Corwin were studied in order to better understand the role of these ticks as vectors of Babesia microti (Franga). Immature /. dammini fed on more kinds of mammals than did other indigenous ticks, and often fed on man. More immature I. dammini fed on Peromyscus leucopusç(Rafinesque) than on other available animals, and such infested hosts were most abundant in dense brush. Nymphal I. dammini fed mainly during spring and early summer; larvae generally fed 2–3 mo later. I. dammini were abundant on each island investigated and in one area on Cape Cod, but few immature I. dammini infested mice in a mainland location adjoining the Cape Cod Canal. The broad host range of immature I. dammini, as well as the coincidence of maximum seasonal feeding activity of nymphal I. dammini with seasonal onset of illness of human babesiosis, strongly suggest that nymphal I. dammini transmit B. microti to man.

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