Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLVIII . Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) infesting domestic cats and wild felids in southern Africa

Abstract

Ticks collected from domestic cats (Felis catus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus),caracals (Caracal caracal), African wild cats (Felis lybica), black-footed cats (Felis nigripes), a serval (Leptailurus serval), lions(Panthera leo), and leopards (Panthera pardus) were identified and counted. Thirteen species of ixodid ticks and one argasid tick were identified from domestic cats and 17 species of ixodid ticks from wild felids. The domestic cats and wild felids harboured 11 ixodid species in common. The adults of Haemaphysalis elliptica, the most abundant tick species infesting cats and wild felids, were most numerous on a domestic cat in late winter and in mid-summer, during 2 consecutive years. The recorded geographic distribution of the recently described Haemaphysalis colesbergensis, a parasite of cats and caracals, was extended by 2 new locality records in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

Ixodid tick diversity on wild mammals, birds and reptiles in and around Etosha National Park, Namibia

“…Wild and domestic carnivores, including several species of canids, felids, and genets are the preferred hosts of R. bicornis adults (Walker, 1991, Horak et al, 2010). Including northern Namibia, it is present from South Africa to central Africa (Walker, 1991).…”

“…Horak et al (1983) collected ticks from warthogs, Horak et al (1984) from mountain zebras and horses, Brain and Bohrmann (1992) examined baboons, Horak et al (1992) sampled plains and mountain zebras, giraffes, kudus, gemsbok and springbok, Fourie et al (2005) collected ticks from elephant shrews, Horak et al (2010) examined cheetahs, lions and a leopard, and Pascucci et al (2011) sampled African buffaloes. Biggs and Langenhoven (1984) and Nyangiwe et al (2013) examined cattle and Matthee et al (2010) dogs.…”

SURVEILLANCE FOR VIRAL AND PARASITIC PATHOGENS IN A VULNERABLE AFRICAN LION (PANTHERA LEO) POPULATION IN THE NORTHERN TULI GAME RESERVE, BOTSWANA

“…Interestingly, we also identified three novel sequences related to the archaeopiroplasmids that likely represent novel species. The four tick species collected from the NTGR lions have been previously reported on lions in other regions of Africa (e.g., Horak et al 2010). Information on tick species and Babesia spp.…”

Diversity of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) infesting cheetahs (Acinoyx jubatus) at three breeding centres in South Africa and activity patterns of questing ticks

“…Various wild and domestic carnivores are the preferred hosts of the adults of H. elliptica, including domestic dogs and cats as well as lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus) and cheetahs (Apanaskevich et al, 2007;Horak et al, 1987;Horak et al, 2000;Horak and Matthee, 2003;Horak et al, 2010). Several murid rodent species are the preferred hosts of its immature stages (Hoogstraal, 1956;Horak et al, 2005;Petney et al, 2004).…”