Seasonality, morphologic and molecular analyses of ixodid ticks collected in two urban biotopes of Budapest

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.