Scientific publications

The roles the passerine birds play in the feeding of tick larvae and nymphs in the Gomseiga Field Station area located in the middle taiga subzone of southern Karelia (N62.07°, E33.96°) were studied. A total of 235 birds belonging to 29 species of 12 families were examined, from which 19 larvae and 69 nymphs of Ixodes persulcatus (Schultze, 1930) were collected. Ticks were detected on 14 bird species (Anthus trivalis, Emberiza citrinella, Erithacus rubecula, Fringilla coelebs, Parus major, Phoenicurus phoenicurus, Pica pica, Prunella modularis, Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Troglodytes troglodytes, Turdus iliacus, T. merula, T. philomelos and T. pilaris), with the highest infestation rates found for P. modularis and T. iliacus. We used the division of birds into ecological groups proposed by R.L. Naumov (1961). The highest prevalence of I. persulcatus, both larvae (8.5%) and nymphs (21.7%), was typical of the birds of the first ecological group, those that collect food from the ground. The estimates of the total numbers of parasitic I. persulcatus larvae and nymphs during the season suggest that birds are important hosts in the life cycle of ticks in the study region.