Barker, S. C. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2026

Seasonal changes in the population structure of Australpavlovskyella gurneyi, the kangaroo soft tick, associated with seasonal changes in the wallowing behaviour of the Osphranter rufus, the red kangaroo, and the weather

O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=118 SRC="FIGDIR/small/700930v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (63K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1e00112org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@16676f1org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@ae5a7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@16b737c_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG The kangaroo soft tick, Australpavlovskyella gurneyi (Warburton, 1926), is found in sandy depressions ( wallows), under desert shade trees, formed by the activity of the red kangaroo, Osphranter rufus, resting under shade trees (https://youtu.be/AYLoqqPsifc). The field biology of the tick was examined on Moralana Station in arid mid-north, South Australia, between February 1969 and March 1971. The age of kangaroo dung in wallows showed that kangaroos visited wallows regularly during the hot summer and infrequently during the cooler months. All nymphal instars and adults were present at all times of the year in kangaroo wallows, but only a small proportion of the ticks present was trapped on any one occasion. Ticks were abundant in large kangaroo wallows under trees with dense shade, but scarce under smaller trees with sparse shade. The short-lived larvae were present only during spring and early summer, indicating that the long-lived female ticks bred only during spring and early summer. Laboratory tests showed that field-collected adult female ticks entered reproductive diapause from January to August (mid-summer to late-winter). Ticks placed in kangaroo wallows survived for at least one year without food. On Moralana Station, the population of first-instar nymphs increased in summer and subsequently the population of second-instar nymphs increased in early autumn, indicating that a life cycle could be completed in 2-3 years. HighlightsO_LIThe seasonal biology of Australpavlovskyella gurneyi, found in sandy depressions wallows formed by the activity of the red kangaroo, under sparse semi-arid desert shade trees was examined for the first time. C_LIO_LIEngorged ticks placed in kangaroo wallows survived for at least one year without food. C_LIO_LIIn this environment, the entire life cycle could be completed in 2-3 years. C_LI

zoology↗

bioRxiv2020

Full-length genome sequence of segmented RNA virus from ticks was obtained using small RNA sequencing data

In 2014, A novel tick-borne virus of the genus Flavivirus was first reported from the Mogiana region in Brazil. This virus was named the Mogiana tick virus (MGTV). Later, MGTV was also named as Jingmen tick virus (JMTV), Kindia tick virus (KDTV), Guangxi tick virus (GXTV) etc. In the present study, we used small RNA sequencing (sRNA-seq) to detect viruses in ticks and detected MGTV in Amblyomma testudinarium ticks, which had been captured in Yunnan province of China in the year of 2016. The full-length genome sequence of a new MGTV strain Yunnan2016 (GenBank: MT080097, MT080098, MT080099 and MT080100) was obtained and recommended to be included into the NCBI RefSeq database for the future studies of MGTV. Our phylogenetic analyses showed that viruses named MGTV, JMTV, KDTV and GXTV are monophyletic: the MGTV group (lineage) of viruses. We show, for the first time, that 5' and 3' sRNAs can be used to obtain full-length sequences of the 5 and 3 ends of, but not limited to genome sequences of RNA viruses. And we proved the feasibility of using the sRNA-seq based method for the detection of viruses in a sample containing miniscule RNA.

bioinformatics↗