![]() So they can just march on, with exponential growth, without any limitation of having to find a mate,” Risa Pesapane, a disease ecology researcher at the Ohio State University, says in a statement. “There are no other ticks in North America that do that. This mode of asexual reproduction allows females to lay about 2,000 fertile eggs without mating. In the past six years, the arachnids have spread across 19 states, colonizing new areas incredibly quickly thanks to an unusual reproductive strategy called parthenogenesis. “It will cover most of the eastern half of the U.S.-that’s most likely.”Īsian longhorned ticks ( Haemaphysalis longicornis) are native to eastern China, Japan, the Russian Far East and Korea, but they were first documented in the U.S. “The tick will be a nuisance, and it is spreading,” Kevin Lahmers, an anatomic pathologist at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine who was not involved with the study, tells Jenny McGrath of Business Insider. This marks the first established population of this species, called the Asian longhorned tick, in the state, according to a paper recently published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. The ticks pose a serious threat to livestock, because they congregate in the thousands and can drain an entire animal of blood. It is available online at or by contacting a local extension office.An invasive species of tick that can clone itself has been spreading rapidly across the eastern United States-and now, researchers have documented a population that killed three cows on an Ohio farm. Those who find single ticks they think might be an Asian longhorned tick should work with their county extension agent for agriculture and natural resources to submit the sample to UK entomologists for positive identification.Īdditional information on tick bite prevention and proper tick removal is available in UK entomology’s ENTFACT 618: Ticks and Disease in Kentucky. Individuals who find a usually large number of ticks on their pet or livestock should contact their local veterinarian. Scientists are conducting tests on ticks collected in the United States, and it is likely that some ticks will contain germs that can be harmful to animals. It is also a known or suspected vector of several important livestock viral, bacterial and protozoan agents. Making detection more difficult, unfed Asian longhorned adults are smaller than other common adult ticks found in Kentucky. The tick is small and reddish-brown with no distinctive markings to make it easy to identify. As it gets further established in the state, the tick is expected to have adverse effects on the state’s deer and wildlife population. In addition to cattle, black bear and elk, it preys on deer, raccoons, opossums, cats, dogs, coyotes, foxes, sheep, goats, groundhogs, horses, Canada geese, chickens, cottontail rabbits, red-tailed hawks and skunks. In addition to Kentucky, it has been confirmed in Arkansas, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. “With the first two findings being in Eastern Kentucky, the Metcalfe County finding is particularly troubling as it means the tick may have already spread farther across the state,” Pasternak said.Ī native of Asia, the tick was first found in 2017 in the United States. Pasternak and Monica Cipriani, a student in the UK College of Public Health, sampled the Metcalfe County field and found more Asian longhorned ticks. “The tick samples that the veterinarian submitted for identification to the UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory contained Asian longhorned ticks.” “The Metcalfe County ticks were submitted by a veterinarian who answered a call about a bull so infested that it was showing signs of severe fatigue,” said Anna Pasternak, UK entomology graduate student who manages the Kentucky Tick Surveillance Program. It was found in large numbers on a bull in Metcalfe County in the south-central part of the state. ![]() The tick has been found in small numbers on elk in Martin County and black bear in Floyd County. Potentially, thousands can be found on an animal.” It only takes a single fed female tick to create a population of ticks. “One reason for their rapid buildup is that the female ticks can lay eggs without mating. “This tick is an aggressive biter and frequently builds intense infestations on domestic hosts that can cause stress, reduced growth and severe blood loss,” said Jonathan Larson, UK extension entomologist in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. This new tick is known to attack animals in large numbers and will be a concern to livestock producers, wildlife enthusiasts and pet owners. The Asian longhorned tick, which preys on a variety of hosts including humans and wild and domestic animals, has been found in Kentucky.
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