Notes on responses of blacklegged ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) to host urine.

In laboratory bioassays under conditions of high humidity, host-seeking female black-legged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, avoided urine of reproductively active male and nonestrous female white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann), the principal host species of the adult stage. At 50% RH, female I. scapularis did not avoid urine from male and female deer. Larval and nymphal I. scapularis did not exhibit an arrestment response to urine from male and female white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque), a major host for immature blacklegged ticks. These results suggest that under some conditions, urine from 2 principal host species in certain physiological states does not provide kairomonal cues that aid I. scapularis in contacting these host species.