First detection of <i>Ixodiphagus hookeri</i> (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in <i>Ixodes ricinus</i> ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) from multiple locations of Hungary
Journal: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Year: 2022

ABSTRACT The parasiotid wasp, Ixodiphagus hookeri (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is the natural enemy of a wide range of hard and soft tick species. While these encyrtid wasps are supposed to be distributed worldwide, only few studies report about its actual appearance patterns around the globe. Within a shotgun sequencing based metagenome analysis, the occurrence of I. hookeri was screened at multiple Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) tick sampling points of Hungary, to contribute to the assessment o