The position of the Strepsiptera in the Insecta is controversial but the application spermiocladistics and molecular biological methods are giving fresh insight into this problem. A review of the order Strepsiptera. J. Insect Morph. Male strepsipterans pupate in hosts and emerge as free-living adults. Modelling tick population dynamics depends on quantifying the interactions of biotic and abiotic factors with the different stages of the tick's life cycle, which determine the temporally and spatially variable rates of recruitment and survival in tick populations.
Rainfall is here the critical abiotic factor determining survival.
Using empirical data on the seasonal rate of bites by infected ticks, we have a preliminary model to predict the prevalence of the Lyme disease spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi , in reservoir vertebrate populations. We aim to replace the climatic predictors in the population and epidemiological models with satellite data that are widely available on fine temporal and spatial scales. We are also investigating the factors that determine the aggregated distribution of ticks on their hosts, a crucial factor in disease transmission dynamics, through experimental field work on Ixodes trianguliceps , vector of Babesia microti amongst rodents. Population dynamics and density-dependent seasonal mortality indices of the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus in east and southern Africa. General framework for comparative quantitative studies on the transmission of tick-borne diseases using Lyme borreliosis in Europe as an example.