Use Of Scutal Index Of The Tick Hyalomma Lusitanicum (Acari, Ixodidae) To Infer Feeding Duration

An increment in human tick bite cases has been noticed in Eastern Spain in the last years. Three tick species has been detached from patients assisted at Vall d’Alba Heath Center during 2018 and 2019: Dermacentor marginatus, Hyalomma lusitanicum and Rhipicephalus sanguineus. H. lusitanicum, with 204 tick bite cases (86.8%), has been the preponderant tick on humans. Of them, 116 females has been used to analyze the scutal index (SI) like the relation between the idiosoma length and the scutum width. The SI of H. lusitanicum ranges from 1.67 to 9.09, being the 80.2% of females belonging to the group of low SI value (1.67-2.22) and 6.0% of females that reaches the maximum grade of engorgement (SI 3.38-9.08). The scutal index, because of the tick engorgement during the feed period, may be used to estimate the time that ticks remain attached to human patients thus assisting with the assessment of pathogen transmission risk.