Partly automated in vitro feeding of adult Amblyomma hebraeum

A reduction in the use of laboratory animals, such as rabbits and bovines, in the pharmaceutical industry and other institutions for breeding medically and economically important species of obligatory bloodsucking hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) is highly desirable. We report the successful feeding of males and females of the tropical tick Amblyomma hebraeum in a partly automated, thus essentially maintenance-free in vitro system. The feeding data (body mass 1.85 degrees; egg conversion factor 0.37; larval hatch rate 88%) did not significantly differ from those achieved on bovine hosts.