Table I.
Species comprising and/or potentially influencing the Lyme borreliosis biocoenosis.
| Vertebrate Community | |
| Competent reservoir hosts | Mammals – Apodemus flavicollis (O), Blarina brevicauda (N), Lepus spp. (N, O), Microtus pennsylvanicus (N), Myodes [formerly Clethrionomys] glareolus (O), Peromyscus leucopus (N), Sciurus carolinensis, (N,O), S. griseus (N), S. vulgaris (O), Sorex spp. (O, N), Tamias spp. (N, O) |
| Birds – Fratercula arctica (O,N), Turdus migratorius (N), T. merula (O), T. philomelos (O), Phasianus colchicus (O) | |
| Lizards – Eumeces inexpectatus (N), Lacerta agilis (O), L. viridis (O), Podarcis muralis (O) | |
| Less competent reservoir hosts | Mammals – Canis latrans (N), Didelphis virgianus (N), Procyon lotor (N), S. carolinensis (N) |
| Birds – Cardinalis cardinalis (N), Melospiza melodia (N) | |
| Lizards – Anolis carolinensis (N), Sceloporus undulatus (N) | |
| Incompetent hosts | Mammals – Capreolus capreolus (O), Cervus elaphus (O), Dama dama (N), Odocoileus hemionus (N), Odocoileus virginianus (N) |
| Birds – Dumatella carolinensis1 (N), Pipilo erythrophthalmus (N), Toxostoma rufum (N) | |
| Lizards – Elgaria multicarinata (N), Sceloporus occidentalis (N) | |
| Tick Community | |
| Bridge vectors | Ixodes pacificus (N), I. persulcatus (O), I. ricinus (O), I. scapularis (N) |
| Cryptic vectors, sometimes sympatric with vectors | I. affinis (N), I. angustus (N), I. dentatus (N), I. hexagonus (O), I. jellisoni (N), I. minor (N), I. muris (N), I. spinipalpis (N), I. uriae (O,N) |
| Incompetent ticks, often sympatric with vectors | Amblyomma americanum (N), Dermacentor andersoni (N), D. occidentalis (N), D. variabilis (N), I. cookei (N), I. tranguliceps (O) |
| Ticks of unknown competence, often sympatric with vectors | I. acuminatus (O), I. auritulus (N), I. brunneus (N), I. marxi (N), I. texanus (N) |
| Microbe Community | |
| Lyme borreliosis group spirochetes(species of known pathogenicity) | Borrelia andersonii (N), B. afzelii (O), B. bisettii (N), B. burgdorferi (O,N), B. californiensis (N), B. carolinensis (N), B. garinii (O)2, B. japonica (O), B. lusitaniae (O), B. sinica (O), B. spielmanii (O), B. tanukii (O), B turdi (O), B. valaisiana (O), B. yantgze (O) |
| Relapsing fever spirochetes | B. miyamotoi (O,N), “B. davisii” (N), B. lonestari (N) |
| Other microbes | Anaplasma phagocytophilum (O,N), Babesia spp. (O,N), Bartonella spp. (O,N), Rickettsia spp. (O,N), flaviviruses (O,N) including tick-borne encephalitis virus (O), louping ill virus (O), and deertick virus (N), known and unknown endosymbionts (O,N) |
This list of species is meant to be informative and is not comprehensive. Host and tick species were selected based on common occurrence in the literature at the time of writing. Characterization of species as competent, less competent, or even incompetent is meant to illustrate the range of variation among taxa, but is not meant to be prescriptive, as competence may depend on the local community of hosts, vectors, and microbes. Microbial taxa include those known to share tick or vertebrate hosts. The geographic distributions of species are indicated generally as New (N) or Old (O) World. References for vertebrate hosts: [43, 46, 79, 81, 96, 97, 107, 121, 127, 129, 133, 141, 147, 154, 156, 157, 188, 231, 234, 266, 268, 269, 271, 282]. References for vectors: [26, 59] and references therein, [91] and references therein, [155, 201, 238]. References for microbial community: [13, 15, 20, 21, 31, 34, 39, 41, 44, 45, 68, 74, 93, 113, 131, 136, 145, 149, 152, 163, 167, 196, 199, 208–210, 232, 235, 237, 240, 241, 247, 259, 267, 272, 285].
Contrary to a previous study [81], Ginsberg et al. [153] recently found xenodiagnostic larvae to be infected at a low level; the assay used, however, may not differentiate between B. burgdorferi and B. miyamotoi.
While the epidemiological significance of B. garinii is greatest in Eurasia, it is associated with pelagic seabirds species that have a circumpolar distribution that even range into the southern hemisphere. In 2006 B. garinii was reported in I. uriae ticks collected off the coast of Newfoundland, making it the second LB spirochete species to be found in both North America and Eurasia [252].