Responses of Amblyomma maculatum to odorants to enhance field collection
Krista D. Pike1, Bruce H. Noden1
1Oklahoma State University, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Stillwater, OK
The Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum Koch, is emerging as an arthropod of medical, veterinary, and economic importance. Current monitoring methods (dragging, flagging, and carbon dioxide trapping) produce low capture rates despite populations existing within economic thresholds. The responses of mixed-sex adult A. maculatum to chemicals associated with hosts or conspecifics was evaluated using a Y-tube olfactometer selection bioassay. We hypothesized that rumen fluid would elicit the strongest positive response when compared with the other chemicals of biological origin. Host-associated semiochemicals tested included: 1-octen-3-ol, ammonium hydroxide, and CO2 in addition to the known conspecific semiochemical, 2-6-dichlorophenol, a component of tick pheromone. Host-associated substances included exudate collected from the ears of cattle and rumen fluid. Chemicals which elicited a positive response in the laboratory bioassay will be tested in a field setting against lab-reared A. maculatum, using mark-release-recapture methods, and wild populations. The outcome of these studies will be used to develop a field trap with enhanced capture capability for A. maculatum in order to better assess tick populations in a pasture and evaluate risks associated with those populations.
