Ticks are very important vectors of human and animal disease agents. In order to develop effective control strategies, accurate identification of these ticks is critical, including identification of the three active life history stages - larva, nymph (i.e., immature stages) and adult. The current project focuses on a worldwide and diverse group of ticks. Adults are generally well known, but while natural-history collections include large numbers of immature stages, they often cannot be associated with those adults. This project aims to address this problem by (1) using genetic data (i.e., barcoding) to associate immatures with adults, (2) providing descriptions of the immatures and adults, including development of on-line identification keys to all stages, and (3) studying evolutionary relationships among the species. Using the information gathered, hypotheses on geographical distributions and host associations will be tested.
The project will provide training in tick identification and database development and management for two graduate and several undergraduate students. The generated on-line resources will allow easy access to an enormous amount of information for public health professionals and the general public. Moreover, the assembled data will allow ticks to be used as a model organism in studies of biogeography and host associations. All specimens from the two largest collections in North America will be data-based and all information will be web accessible.
