Ixodid mites (Ixodidae) of the North-Western Black Sea

Objective of research. The study of species composition of Ixodidae (Ixodidae) of the North Western Black Sea Materials and methods. Material from large mammals is provided by the employees of the Odessa Zoological Museum (Lobkov VA. and Treskin A.I.), some part of the material was collected by the author. Raccoon dog (3 ind.), wolf (1 ind.), fox (9 ind.), mouflon (2 ind.), deer (1 ind.), a roe deer (2 ind.), red deer (2 ind.), elk (1 ind.), wild boar (3 ind.), human (5 ind.) were examined. Ticks were identified by Kolonin V.G.; we express our sincere gratitude to him for these studies. Results and discussion. Species composition and abundance of ixodid ticks collected from large mammals are presented in the table. As a matter of fact, the works of employees of the Ukrainian Research Anti-Plague Institute (UNIPCHI) and the works of Shilnikovsky, et al., 1997; 12, Rusev I.T, 1999; 2000; 2008; 2000; Rusev I.T, et al., 2009; Grekov et al. 2000; Boschenko et al..2005; Sokolovsky with co-authors 2005 have almost revealed the species composition of ixodid ticks from the North-Western Black Sea. The list of species (Rusev I.T, 2009) is represented by 16 species. Works were conducted by standard methods, and collection of ticks was carried out only from dogs, cattle and small cattle. According to Russev (2009), who also refers to early works (Vshivkov, 1956) the ixodid tick fauna of Nord-West Black Sea area is mainly formed due to the immigrants from the Mediterranean, where the main routes of migratory birds go from. According to Balashov, 1998,... - even in the case of intercontinental drifts of ixodid ticks with migratory birds, occurring regularly between Europe, Africa and Asia, migrants are usually not able to become anchored in unusual geobiocenoses. Balashov believes that gradual expansion or narrowing of boundaries in response to the corresponding long-term changes in biotic and abiotic factors are distinguished for ixodid habitats, but not explosive expansion. Our studies on wild mammals enabled to add two species to the list of Ixodidae, and at present, the list of species composition of ixodid ticks from the NorthWestern Black Sea includes 18 species.