Amblyomma Lepidum Research Articles

A survey on the ectoparasites of some livestock from some areas of Borno and Yobe States

An investigation into ectoparasites of livestock from Maiduguri Metropolitan and Askira Uba (Borno State), Fika and Nangere (Yobe State) was conducted. A total of 1,600 camels, 2,200 cattle, 500 sheep, 400 goats, 230 dogs and 250 pigs were examined for ectoparasites. Ticks, lice and flies were the ectoparasites recorded. Infestation rate of ticks was high on camels, cattle and dogs. Tick infestation rate on sheep and goats was 43.0% and 26.5% respectively. The species of ticks recorded were all from the Family Ixodidae. Ticks on camels were Hyalomma rufipes, Hyalomma dromedarii, Boophilus decoloratu and Hyalomma truncatum. In order of predominance, cattle were infested with Boophilus decoloratus, Hyalomma tuncatum, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Haemaphysalis leachii and Amblyomma lepidum. Sheep and goats were also infested with ixodid ticks though the infestation rates were relatively low. The flies trapped in this study comprised of members of the Order Diptera while lice were drawn from the Order Anoplura. The level of infestation rates of ectoparasites in relation to age groups and sex of hosts were assessed. The population of the ectoparasites on different hosts showed wide differences. KEY WORDS: Ectoparasites, Livestock, Borno and Yobe States Nigerian Veterinary Journal Vol.25(2) 2004: 48-55

Preliminary survey of ticks (Acari : Ixodidae) on cattle in northern Sudan

In a cross sectional survey conducted during the period June 2001 to July 2002, the geographical distribution of ticks on cattle in the Sudan was determined. Seventeen locations were surveyed from Northern, Central, Eastern, Western, Blue Nile and White Nile Provinces. Total body collections of ticks were made from 20 cattle at each location. Four tick genera and 11 species were identified. The tick species collected included Amblyomma lepidum, Amblyomma variegatum, Boophilus decoloratus, Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, Hyalomma dromedarii, Hyalomma impeltatum, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, Hyalomma truncatum, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Rhipicephalus sanguineus group and Rhipicephalus simus simus. Major ecological changes have occurred due to extensive animal movement, deforestation, desertification and establishment of large mechanized agricultural schemes. These factors have certainly affected the distribution of ticks and tick-borne diseases in the Sudan. The absence of A. variegatum and A. lepidum in northern Sudan was not surprising, since these tick species are known to survive in humid areas and not in the desert and semi-desert areas of northern Sudan. The absence of B. annulatus in northern and central Sudan is in accordance with the finding that this tick species is restricted to the southern parts of the central Sudan. The presence of H. anatolicum anatolicum in Um Benin in relatively high abundance is an interesting finding. The present finding may indicate that the southern limit of this species has changed and moved southwards to latitude 13 degrees N. It is concluded that major changes in tick distribution have taken place in the Sudan.

Life cycle studies of the tick species, Amblyomma lepidum, Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum and Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi under laboratory conditions

Immature stages of Amblyomma lepidum were fed on rabbit ears and the adult ones on calf ear. There was a three-host type of development during an average period of 160.5 days. The mean larval feeding period was 5 days, 7 days for nymphs and 14.5 for females. At 27 ± 1°C and 100% r.h. the engorged larvae required 21 days for moulting and nymphs took 22 days to develop to adults. The pre-oviposition period was 14.2 days and the oviposition period was 21.4 days during which a mean number of 7564.6 eggs were laid. Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum and Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi were fed on rabbit ears. The larvae, nymphs and adults of Hyalomma ticks fed for 4.6 and 8.5 days, respectively. The larvae and nymphs of R. e. evertsi fed sequentially on the same host for 14 days while the females took 7.5 days to engorge. At 27 ± 1°C and 75–80% r.h. the engorged larvae and nymphs of H. a. anatolicum moulted after a further 8.5 and 13 days respectively. The engorged nymphs of R. e. evertsi at 27 ± 1°C and 75–80% r.h. moulted 14.5 days after dropping off the host. At 27 ± 1°C and 75–80% r.h. the preoviposition and oviposition periods of H. a. anatolicum were 4.6 and 20.8 days, while those of R. e. evertsi were 5.4 and 14 days. The average number of eggs laid per female under the same conditions (27± 1°C and 75–80% r.h.), was 4684.6 for H. a. anatolicum and 3392 for R. e. evertsi.

A study of the effect of tick infestation on liveweight gain of cattle in the Sudan

Abstract Sixty‐four cattle of the Kenana Dreed were exposed to natural tick challenge near Abu Naama (450 km south of Khartoum) for 121 days. Thirty‐three of these were treated with acaricide which reduced their Amblyomma lepidum mean adult tick burdens to 3.9 animal. The untreated 31 animals averaged 47 A lepidum adults/animal. During the course of the experiment the treated group achieved a liveweight gain of 13.1 kg (108g/day) whereas the untreated group gained 11.5 kg (95 g/day); the difference between groups was nonsignificant Other tick damage effects are discussed to assess the economic benefits of tick control.

Tick (Acari = Ixodoidea: Ixodidae) immatures feeding on cattle, camels and sheep in the Sudan, with notes on behaviour of Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum larvae fed on different hosts

In a survey carried out in 1979–1982 in Sudan, 5830 tick immature stages were collected from cattle, sheep and camels and identified. Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, Rhipicephalus evertsi and Amblyomma lepidum immatures were feeding on cattle and sheep. Amblyomma variegatum immatures were collected from cattle. H. impeltatum nymphs were found, for the first time, to feed on camels and sheep, while H. dromedarii nymphs were recorded from camels. Feeding H. a. anatolicum larvae on rabbits, 53.4% of the ticks behaved as three-host feeding cycle.

Genetic basis for organochlorine resistance in Amblyomma variegatum and information on the susceptibility on A. lepidum to organochlorine acaricides.

Baseline data on susceptibility to organochlorine acaricides were obtained for Amblyomma lepidum Donitz and A. variegatum (F.), One strain of A. variegatum from East Africa which could not be controlled by toxaphene also showed resistance to lindane and dieldrin. Single crosses between this strain and a susceptible strain resulted in both susceptible and resistant progeny (1:1 ratio). Backcrosses of some of these resistant progeny with susceptible mates produced the same 1:1 ratio of susceptible and resistant offspring. Heterogenous progenies always demonstrated a horizontal trajection in dose-mortality relationship. A single dominant allele for resistance is therefore operating. Backcrosses of other resistant progeny also showed partitioning into susceptible and resistant segregants but there was a preponderance of susceptible offspring.

Ticks (Ixodoidea) on migrating birds in Cyprus, fall 1967 and spring 1968, and epidemiological considerations

AbstractMore or less cursory examination of migrating birds in Cyprus revealed 115 of 2580 southward (fall) migrants and 177 of 22015 northward (spring) migrants to be infested by 167 and 797 ticks, respectively. Most ticks on fall migrants wereHyalomma marginatum marginatumKoch; others wereIxodes frontalis(Panz.), I.ricinus(L.),Haemaphysalis concinnaKoch, andH. punctataC. & F., all representative of the Eurasian fauna. Most ticks on spring migrants wereH. m. rufipesKoch; others wereAmblyomma lepidumDön.,A. nuttalliDön., andA. variegatum(F.), representative of sub-Saharan Africa, andArgas streptopeliaKaiser, Hoogst. & Horner,Ixodes eldaricusDzhaparidze, and I.redikorzeviOlen. which probably attached to the hosts in the eastern Mediterranean area. In Africa and Eurasia, 16 arboviruses have been recorded from eight of these tick species, and also the agents of boutonneuse fever, Siberian tick typhus, Q fever, and tularaemia. The epidemiological potential of migrating birds is enhanced by the multiplicity of pathogens that may infect them and the biological diversity of ticks that may infest them. The remarkably wide distribution of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus in Africa and Eurasia is likely to be due to intercontinental carriage of the virus and ticks by migrating birds.

The subgenus Persicargas (Ixodoidea, Argasidae, Argas). 10. A. (P.) streptopelia, new species, a widely distributed parasite of resident and migrating doves in Africa and Cyprus, and epidemiological considerations.

Argas (Persicargas) streptopelia , n. sp., is described from laboratory-reared adults, nymphs, and larvae, and from larvae infesting doves, Streptopelia spp., in Cyprus, Egypt, and Sudan, and “birds” in South-West Africa. The persicus-like adults and nymphs have a broadly oval body with lateral cells containing large, setiferous pits. Larvae have a highly distinctive dorsal plate and the body becomes uniquely broadly cordiform during feeding. On 218 northward (spring) migrating Streptopelia turtur subsp. examined in Cyprus in 1969, 34 (15.6%) carried larvae (mean infestation load 17.2 larvae per dove). Larvae attach to the host body and legs, never to the head; thus they were overlooked for many years. From comparing data for larval dropping from living field-collected hosts and for laboratory rearing, it is postulated that the doves taken in Cyprus became infested 1–10 days earlier in their wintering ground in Africa and that many larvae are carried some distance into Eurasia. Free-living populations of A. (P.) streptopelia , have not yet been discovered in Africa or Eurasia, This tick species' wide distribution and parasitism of migrating doves, some of which are viremic, is of much epidemiological interest. The presence of immature stages of the African Hyalomma marginatum rufipes Koch and Amblyomma lepidum Donitz on the same migrating doves in Cyprus adds to the scope of this importance.

Ecology and host-relationships of ticks (Ixodoidea) infesting domestic animals in Kassala Province, Sudan, with special reference to Amblyomma lepidum Dönitz.

Amblyomma lepidum Dön., previously incriminated as a vector of heartwater (caused by Rickettsia ruminantium) among sheep and goats, and possibly camels, in southern Kassala Province, Sudan, is apparently the only Amblyomma species in this area. Systematic collections of all ticks infesting domestic animals were carried out in November 1959, just after the rains, in five ecologically differing areas in the region most severely infected with heartwater. Though rare in desert scrub (north of 16°N. latitude) and only moderately numerous in semidesert grassland (Butana area), incidence of A. lepidum is high in wooded savannah (River Atbara) and in the cultivated Gash Delta, and highest (15·5 per host) in the Acacia seyal savannah of the River Gash. Chief hosts of adults are cattle. Sheep are secondary hosts, and camels, donkeys, and goats are less heavily infested. Two males were taken feeding on humans. Mating (breeding) activity is only slight following the rains (November). Few larvae and nymphs were found during this period; those present were mainly on sheep and goats, with a few on cattle, and these were usually feeding on the hoofs of their hosts.Rhipicephalus s. sanguineus (Latr.), the most numerous and widely distributed tick here, infests chiefly sheep and goats, is common on cattle, and also occurs on camels and donkeys. Mating activity of this species is high in November. Hyalomma dromedarii Koch is equally widely distributed and follows R. s. sanguineus in numbers, but is most frequent on camels, common on cattle, and rare on donkeys and sheep; goats were uninfested. Mating is moderately active at this season. The incidence of H. impeltatum Schulze & Schlottke, which occurs in each zone, equalled that of A. lepidum. Cattle are the chief hosts and camels are secondary hosts; donkeys, sheep, and goats are less frequently infested. Mating activity is moderate in November.Other more or less common tick species on these domestic animals are Boophilus decoloratus (Koch), R. e. evertsi Neum., R. simus Koch, H. anatolicum excavatum Koch, H. truncatum Koch and H. marginatum rufipes Koch, evidence for the status of which as a subspecies of H. marginatum Koch is to be presented in a subsequent paper. Several other rare species are also recorded.