The comparative prevalence of five ixodid tick species infesting cattle and goats in Maputo Province, Mozambique

Abstract

This study compares the prevalence of ixodid tick species on cattle and goats in Maputo Province. Adult ticks as well as the nymphs of three species, and only the adults of two species were collected from sets of five cattle at 21 localities throughout the province and compared with those collected from similar sets of goats at the same places. Amblyomma hebraeum adults and/or nymphs were present on cattle and on goats at all 21 localities, and 90 cattle and 22 goats were infested with adult ticks. Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus adults and/or nymphs were collected from cattle at 20 and from goats at 15 localities, and 92 cattle and 34 goats were infested [Chi-square test ( 2 ), P < 0.001]. The total length of several maturing female R. (Boophilus) microplus collected from cattle and goats exceeded 5 mm, indicating that they successfully engorge on both host species. Rhipicephalus appendiculatus adults and/or nymphs were present on cattle at 15 and on goats at 13 localities, but 28 cattle and only one goat were infested with adult ticks ( 2 , P < 0.001). Adult Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi were recovered from cattle at 20 and from goats at 17 localities, and 74 cattle and 69 goats were infested. Adult Rhipicephalus simus were collected from cattle at 18 and from goats at 11 localities (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.04), and 60 cattle and 14 goats were infested ( 2 , P < 0.001). These findings underscore the advisability of including goats in acaricide application programmes designed for the control of tick-borne diseases in cattle at the same locality.

Displacement of Rhipicephalus decoloratus by Rhipicephalus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…Domestic cattle are the most efficient hosts of R. microplus (Mason and Norval 1980). Goats play a lesser, but still significant role (Nyangiwe and Horak 2007;De Matos et al 2009), and as demonstrated on the farms 'Pumprock' and 'Shweme' in this study. It is thus on cattle and possibly to a lesser extent on goats, purchased in localities 13 13 where R. microplus is present, that it has been introduced into the region.…”

The genetic relationship between R. microplus and R. decoloratus ticks in South Africa and their population structure

“…By comparison, R. microplus seems to prefer the coastal regions of the country, displaying a discontinuous distribution in the more temperate regions [5][6][7]. Recent studies documented the adaptive ability of R. microplus ticks as they move into previously unsuitable environments to displace the native R. decoloratus tick species [8][9][10]. The spread of R. microplus to previously unoccupied areas is of great economic concern, since South African cattle are immunologically naïve to B. bovis [1].…”

An update on the ecological distribution of the Ixodidae ticks in Zimbabwe

“…Recent studies have focused on the relationship that exists between this sub-group of the Rhipicephalus species and results have indicated that Rhipicephalus microplus is displacing other ticks of the same genus in West Africa, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and more recently also in Namibia (De Clercq et al, 2012;De Matos et al, 2009;Lynen et al, 2008;Nyangiwe et al, 2013a;Nyangiwe et al, 2013b). In Zimbabwe, Mason and Norval (1980) reported that the exotic R. microplus was displacing the autochthonous Rhipicephalus decoloratus in the eastern parts of the country with unconfirmed reports suggesting that because of the 1980-1983 drought R. microplus could actually have disappeared from the country (Norval et al, 1992), while subsequent research revealed that R. microplus was still limited to the eastern and northern parts of the country (Katsande et al, 1996) and that it could periodically spread into the interior areas of Zimbabwe (Smeenk et al, 2000).…”