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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Howard S. Ginsberg</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Richard A. Humber</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Roger A. LeBrun</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Elyes Zhioua</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>1999</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Free-living larval, nymphal, and adult &lt;i&gt;Ixodes scapularis&lt;/i&gt; Say were collected from scattered locales in southern New England and New York to determine infection rates with entomopathogenic fungi. Infection rates of larvae, nymphs, males, and females were 0% (571), 0% (272), 0% (57), and 4.3% (47), respectively. Two entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from field-collected &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis&lt;/i&gt; females from Fire Island, NY. Isolates were identified as &lt;i&gt;Verticillium lecanii&lt;/i&gt; (Zimmermann) Viegas and &lt;i&gt;Verticillium&lt;/i&gt; sp. (a member of the &lt;i&gt;Verticillium lecanii&lt;/i&gt; species complex).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Ixodes scapularis&lt;/i&gt; Say is the principal vector of &lt;i&gt;Borrelia burgdorferi&lt;/i&gt; Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt &amp;amp; Brenner (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Burgdorfer et al. 1982&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Johnson et al. 1984&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;), the etiologic agent of Lyme disease in the northeastern and upper-midwestern United States. Control of &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis&lt;/i&gt; is based on chemical treatment (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Mather et al. 1987b&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Schulze et al. 1987&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;1991&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;), environmental management (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Wilson et al. 1988&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Schulze et al. 1995&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;), and habitat modification (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Wilson 1986&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;). These methods have shown variable success, and some potentially have negative environmental effects (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Wilson and Deblinger 1993&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Ginsberg 1994&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Studies concerning natural predators, parasitoids, and pathogens of &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis&lt;/i&gt; are rare. The use of ground-dwelling birds as tick predators has had only limited success (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Duffy et al. 1992&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;). Nymphal &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis&lt;/i&gt; are often infected with the parasitic wasp &lt;i&gt;Ixodiphagus hookeri&lt;/i&gt; (Howard) (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Mather et al. 1987a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Hu et al. 1993&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Stafford et al. 1996&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Hu and Hyland 1997&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;), but this wasp does not effectively control &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis&lt;/i&gt; populations (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Stafford et al. 1996&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;). The entomopathogenic nematodes &lt;i&gt;Steinernema carpocapsae&lt;/i&gt; (Weiser) and &lt;i&gt;S. glaseri&lt;/i&gt; (Steiner) are pathogenic only to engorged female &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis,&lt;/i&gt; and thus have limited applicability (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Zhioua et al. 1995&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;). In contrast, the entomogenous fungus &lt;i&gt;Metarhizium anisopliae&lt;/i&gt; (Metschnikoff) Sorokin is highly pathogenic to all stages of &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis,&lt;/i&gt; unfed as well as engorged, and thus has considerable potential as a microbial control agent (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;Zhioua et al. 1997&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p3"&gt;&lt;span class="s4"&gt;European studies have suggested that entomopathogenic fungi might serve as natural controls of of &lt;i&gt;Ixodes ricinus&lt;/i&gt; L. populations (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s5"&gt;Samsinakova et al. 1974&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s4"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s5"&gt;Eilenberg et al. 1991&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s4"&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s5"&gt;Kalsbeek et al. 1995&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s4"&gt;). In the current study, we describe the isolation of entomopathogenic fungi from field-collected &lt;i&gt;I. scapularis.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1093/jmedent/36.5.635</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Oxford University Press</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Preliminary survey for entomopathogenic fungi associated with Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in southern New York and New England, USA</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>