Red trumpet - Red trumpet

A small terrestrial animal belonging to the Arthropoda phylum, Arachnida class, Acari order, Tsutsugamushi family. It is commonly known as Akamushi. In Japan, it is distributed in Niigata, Yamagata, Akita, and Fukushima prefectures, and lives in grasslands along rivers. Outside of Japan, it is known to be distributed widely in the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, southern China, and Taiwan. The adult is about 1 mm long, has a pale red body, is constricted in a figure of eight, and is densely covered with white hairs. It lives on the ground and mainly sucks fluid from tiny insect eggs. The larvae are orange and almost circular, and unlike the adults and nymphs, they mainly parasitize mice and suck lymphatic fluid. The larvae mainly emerge in the summer (June to September) and have long been known as vectors of scrub typhus. Although mice are the main host, it is a generalist species that also parasitizes wild birds.

[Hiroshi Suzuki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

節足動物門クモ形綱ダニ目ツツガムシ科に属する陸生小動物。アカムシと俗称される。日本では新潟、山形、秋田、福島各県に分布し、河畔の草原地帯にすむ。日本以外には、広く南太平洋、東南アジア、中国南部、台湾にも分布が知られている。成虫は体長1ミリメートル程度、体は淡赤色で、8の字形にくびれ、白色の毛を密生する。地表で生活し、おもに微小昆虫の卵を吸液する。幼虫はオレンジ色で円形に近く、成虫や若虫(わかむし)と異なり、おもにノネズミに寄生しリンパ液を吸う。幼虫は夏（6～9月）を中心に発生し、古くからつつが虫病の媒介者として有名である。ノネズミがおもな宿主であるが、野鳥にも寄生する汎(はん)寄生性の種である。

［鈴木　博］

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