Ixodes ricinus is the dominant questing tick in forest habitats in Romania: the results from a countrywide dragging campaign

Abstract

In 2010 and 2011, questing ticks were collected from 188 forested locations in all the 41 counties of Romania using the dragging method. The total of 13,771 ticks collected belonged to eleven species: Ixodes ricinus (86.9 %), Dermacentor marginatus (9.5 %), Haemaphysalis punctata (2.6 %), H. concinna (0.6 %), H. sulcata (0.3 %), H. parva (0.1 %), Hyalomma marginatum (0.02 %), D. reticulatus (0.02 %), I. crenulatus (0.007 %), I. hexagonus (0.007 %) and I. laguri (0.007 %). Ixodes ricinus was present in 97.7 % (n = 180) of locations, occurring exclusively in 41.7 % of the locations, whereas it was the dominant species in 38.8 % of the other locations, accounting for over 70 % of the total tick community. The following most common questing ticks were D. marginatus, H. punctata and H. concinna. Ixodes ricinus co-occurred with one, two or three sympatric species. The occurrence of D. reticulatus in forested habitats from Romania was found to be accidental.