Ticks from Wild Mammals in the Kyushu District Including Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

As a part of ecological studies on ticks, various kinds of ticks from wild mammals collected in the Kyushu district including Okinawa Prefecture, Japan were surveyed from 1982 to 1988. Nine tick species consisting of Argas vespertilionis, Amblyomma testudinatium, Haema. physalis fzava, H, megaspinosa, H. phasiana, H. longicomis, H. hystricis, Ixodes ovatus and I . nipponensis (329 ticks in total), were captured from 15 species of mammals. As for the argasids, the larva of A. vespertilionis alone was obtained from the two Japanese house bats. The majority of the ticks were H. Java and I. nipponensis, taken from various kinds of mammals, suggesting that both tick species had a wide host range as does I. ovatus. Both I. ovatus and I. nipponensis showed a different host preference between the immature and the adult stages.