Abstract：
Expansion of ticks and tick-borne diseases is of increasing concern worldwide. To decrease the risk of ticks and tick-borne diseases to public health, understanding the mechanisms of their current distribution and future expansion is needed. Although tick distribution has been studied globally on continents and large islands that are inhabited by large mammals, less attention has been paid to remote islands. However, small islands are often important stopover sites for migratory birds that may contribute to long-distance dispersal of ticks. Therefore, islands would be a suitable system to rule out potential effects of mammals and to evaluate the contribution of birds to the expansion of ticks and tick-borne diseases. We collected questing ticks by dragging cloths over vegetation on Tobishima Island, northern Japan, in summer 2021, and conducted a literature search of the distribution and avian hosts of hard tick. We found several southern species of ticks (Haemaphysalis hystricis, H. formosensis, H. cornigera, Amblyomma testudinarium, and Dermacentor bellulus) on the island. These species have rarely or never been reported from the mainland of Japan at similar latitudes or higher, where large mammals are found. They are known vectors of tick-borne diseases, such as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. The present study suggests that migratory birds may contribute to the expansion of ticks and tick-borne diseases, and a remote island may function as a front line and/or a hub for their expansion. Evaluating tick fauna on remote islands used by migratory birds might be useful to monitor the expansion.
摘要：
壁虱和壁虱传播疾病的扩展在世界范围内日益受到关注。为了降低蜱和蜱传播疾病对公众健康的风险，需要了解其当前分布和未来扩展的机制。尽管已经在全球范围内对大型哺乳动物居住的大陆和大型岛屿上的蜱虫分布进行了研究，对偏远岛屿的关注较少。然而,小岛通常是候鸟的重要中转站，可能有助于壁虱的远距离传播。因此,岛屿将是一个合适的系统，可以排除哺乳动物的潜在影响，并评估鸟类对壁虱和壁虱传播疾病扩展的贡献。我们通过在多岛岛的植被上拖布来收集蜱虫，日本北部,2021年夏季，对硬蜱的分布和禽类寄主进行了文献检索。我们发现了几种南方的壁虱（Haemphysalishystricis，H.Formosensis,H.Cornigera,双鱼座，和珊瑚层）在岛上。这些物种很少或从未在类似纬度或更高纬度的日本大陆报道过，发现大型哺乳动物的地方。它们是蜱传疾病的已知媒介，如严重发热伴血小板减少综合征。本研究表明，候鸟可能导致蜱和蜱传播疾病的扩大，和远程岛可以用作前线和/或集线器用于它们的扩展。评估候鸟使用的偏远岛屿上的蜱动物可能有助于监测扩张情况。
