Climbing behavior and host-finding larval rabbit ticks (Haemaphysalis leporispalustris)

The rabbit tick (Haemaphysalis leporispalustris) is highly host-specific. Adults feed almost exclusively on rabbits. Immatures feed primarily on rabbits but will attack birds. When larvae leave the daytime resting form of the rabbit, they climb up to a position on vegetation where they can encounter a host. Experiments using glass rod models to represent vegetation showed that ticks selected a position which had greatest substrate curvature and was at rabbit body height. This strato-orientation restricts the tick's host spectrum to rabbits and ground-dwelling or feeding birds.