Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of livestock in Nicaragua, with notes about distribution.

Abstract

We document the species of ticks that parasitize livestock in Nicaragua. The study was based on tick collection on cattle and horses from 437 farms in nine departments. Of 4841 animals examined (4481 cows and 360 horses), 3299 were parasitized, which represent 68% of the bovines and 67% of the equines in study: 59 cows and 25 horses were parasitized by more than one species. In addition, 280 specimens of the entomological museum in León were examined. The ticks found on cattle were Rhipicephalus microplus (75.2% of the ticks collected), Amblyomma mixtum (20.8%), A. parvum (2.6%), A. tenellum (0.7%), A. maculatum (0.7%). While the ticks collected from the horses were: Dermacentor nitens (41.5%), A. mixtum (31.7%), R. microplus (13.8%), A. parvum (6.5%), A. tenellum (3.3%), D. dissimilis (2.4%) and A. maculatum (0.8%).