Scientist sounds alarm on invasive tick species

Warns of major public health hazard as they spread across Connecticut

State scientist Goudarz Molaei pulled a square of cloth through brush and grass on the Stratford coast recently, then stopped and pointed to a crawling smear of larvae on the white fabric.

The tiny arachnids were either Gulf Coast or lone star ticks, two of three invasive species, along with the Asian long-horned tick, that have recently established footholds in Connecticut.

First seen only in pockets near the coast, the blood-sucking, disease-carrying ticks have spread into other parts of the state. Compared with past years, many more worried residents and visitors have submitted ticks to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, mostly deer ticks that may carry Lyme disease, Molaei said. The tally so far in 2021 is 4,700 tick submissions to the testing laboratory, compared with a total annual average of 3,000 submissions.

Milder winters and warmer temperatures overall are helping the ticks survive and thrive in Connecticut.

“This is going to be a major public health concern in the near future, if it is not already,” Molaei said.

Bent to their work, Molaei and assistant Julia Ellman pulled their cloth drags through brushy areas off the shell-piled beach, stopping to tweeze ticks from the cloth and plunk them into vials. Some ticks went into alcohol for preservation; others that Molaei wanted alive for further study were dropped into empty tubes.

Tick expert Molaei has a practiced eye. He immediately identified a Gulf Coast tick by its yellowish brown color. Later, he captured a lone star male and then two females, which bear a bright blotch on their backs that gives the species its name.

Molaei says his regular tick surveys are informed, in part, by submissions to the Experiment Station. He goes to the location where ticks were reported to determine whether a population has been established. The lone star and deer tick are of particular concern, he said, because of the disease agents they carry.

Molaei provided updates on each species:

“This is going to be a major public

health concern in

the near future, if it is not already.” — State scientist

Goudarz Molaei

MARK MIRKO PHOTOS/HARTFORD COURANT Dr. Goudarz Molaei, with Connecticut’s Agricultural Experiment Station, searches for ticks trapped on a canvas dragged through vegetation along southern Connecticut’s shoreline in Stratford on Aug. 13.

Julia Ellman cools off after hunting for ticks with Molaei in Stratford. Above, a Gulf Coast tick captured along the Connecticut shoreline. The species was once limited to Gulf Coast states but was discovered in Connecticut last year.