Study of distribution and species composition of ticks in the south and south-eastern regions of Ukraine

Abstract

The article presents the results of studying the prevalence and species composition of ticks in the southern and south-eastern regions of Ukraine. During 2019-2021 15644 ticks were collected in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. Three species of ticks were identified: Dermacentor marginatus – 7230 individuals (46.2% of all collected ticks), Ixodes ricinus – 5317 individuals (34.0%) and Hyalomma marginatum – 3097 individuals (19.8%). It has been established that Dermacentor marginatus is the dominant species among ticks found in Odesa (68.0% of the total number of ticks collected in the region), Kherson (50.8%), Zaporizhzhia (41.4%) and Kharkiv (88.1%) regions. In Mykolaiv region, ticks of the species Ixodes ricinus are most common (53.2%). The prevalence of Hyalomma marginatum ticks does not exceed the prevalence of other types of ticks in any of the regions, however, their largest number was found in Mykolaiv region (43.53%), and the smallest – in Kharkiv region (0.17%).