| dc.description.abstract | Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) are regarded as the most important arthropods that are able to
transmit pathogens to humans and domestic animals in the temperate zone. Previously, in the
capital city of Hungary various habitats were surveyed for the presence of ticks and tick-borne
pathogens, and neglected parts of cemeteries were found to be especially suitable to maintain
large tick populations, most likely because of the high density of birds and small mammals (i.e.,
due to the restricted entry or near absence of medium sized carnivores).
In a cemetery, we collected ticks with the dragging-flagging method from the vegetation
during a 28-month period (February 2019 to May 2021), encompassing three spring and two
autumn tick seasons. For comparison, ticks were also collected in an urban forest for 24 months
(February 2019 to January 2021). The ticks were stored in ethanol until identification of their
species based on standard morphologic keys. | en_US |
