Assortative Pairing in Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae), the European Vector of Lyme Borreliosis

In sexual organisms, the way in which gamets aossociate call greatly influence the maintenance of genetic variation, the structure of this valiation in space, and ultimately organismal evolution, Based oil patterns of genetic structure previously found, we explicitly tested whether adults of the sheep tick Ixodes ricinus pair according to their genetic relatedness. We sampled tick pairs from the vegetation in four and genotyped individual ticks at seven microsatellite loci. Based on this data. we observed highly significant assortative mating in two of the four locations. a pattern that could not be accounted for by it spatial autocorrelation in the distribution of related ticks. One explanation for these observations may be the existence of local host associations that develop independently in different populations. Assortative mating in I. ricinus win have clear consequences for its through processes of adaptation and transmission, may significantly alter the epidemiological patterns of the pathogens it carries, including the Lyme disease agent tests win flow be required to examine them mechanisms leading to this pattern and its epidemiological consequences.