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Unique biological rhythm in the reproductive behaviour of female ticks of reptiles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2009

N. B. CHILTON ,
C. M. BULL  and
R. H. ANDREWS
N. B. CHILTON*
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, SA5072, Australia Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada
C. M. BULL
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada
R. H. ANDREWS
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, SA5072, Australia School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada. Tel: +1 306 9664407. Fax: +1 306 9664461. E-mail: [email protected]
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Summary

We report the discovery of a biological rhythm in the reproductive behaviour of the tick Bothriocroton hydrosauri that was absent in Amblyomma limbatum, a species that occurs on the same species of reptile host. Female B. hydrosauri mated in autumn or winter delayed oviposition until the following spring, while there was no diapause in conspecific females mated in spring or early summer. Initiation of ovipositional diapause in ticks is usually related to photoperiodic stimuli, but this was not the case for B. hydrosauri. The sinusoidal pattern in pre-oviposition times of B. hydrosauri females mated in different months in the laboratory suggests an internal seasonal time-keeping mechanism. We hypothesize that hormones imbibed by females during their bloodmeal may provide environmental cues associated with the induction of diapause. Irrespective of the mechanism underlying the rhythm, diapause by B. hydrosauri females mated during autumn or winter is of adaptive advantage because it synchronizes oviposition with favourable environmental conditions for egg hatching and increases the chance of larvae finding a host. The lack of a similar biological rhythm in A. limbatum may be a reflection of the different environmental conditions this species experiences throughout most of its range as compared with B. hydrosauri.

Keywords

biological rhythmpre-oviposition periodmorphogenetic diapausereptile ticksBothriocroton hydrosauriAmblyomma limbatum
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 136 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 77 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

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