ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Preliminary survey of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on cattle in Central Equatoria State, Southern Sudan

 

 

D.A. Salih^I; I.I. Julla^II; S.M. Hassan^III; A.M. El Hussein^I; F. Jongejan^{IV, V}

^ICentral Veterinary Research Laboratories, Al Amarat, P.O. Box 8067, Khartoum, Sudan
^IICollege of Veterinary Science, University of Bahr El Ghazal, P.O. Box 10739, Khartoum, Sudan
^IIIDepartment of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 32, Khartoum North, Sudan
^IVUtrecht Centre for Tick-borne Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 1, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands
^VDepartment of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

In a preliminary survey conducted in 2005, the species composition and seasonality of ticks infesting cattle in Central Equatoria State, Southern Sudan was determined. Three locations were selected (Gumbo, Khor Rumla and Nyaing) and surveyed every 3 months. Two cattle herds in each of the three locations were visited four times during the study period. Total body collections of ticks were made from each of five cattle (Nilotic Zebu breed) kept in six different herds. Four tick genera and ten species were identified. The tick species identified were Amblyomma lepidum, Amblyomma variegatum, Boophilus annulatus, Boophilus decoloratus, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, Hyalomma truncatum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Rhipicephalus praetextatus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus group. The highest number of ticks was collected in October during the rainy season. A finding of great significance was that R. appendiculatus, vector of East Coast fever, has now firmly established itself throughout the year with possible implications for cattle production in Central Equatoria State.

Keywords: Cattle, preliminary survey, Southern Sudan, ticks

---

 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

REFERENCES

ANONYMOUS 1983. Tick and tick-borne disease control, the Sudan. Tick ecology and tick control. AG: GCP/SUD/024/DEN. Technical Report 1. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization.         [ Links ]

DAY, R.W. & QUINN, G.P. 1989. Comparison of treatment after an analysis of variance in ecology. Ecological Monographs, 59:433-463.         [ Links ]

DE CASTRO, J.J. 1997. Sustainable tick and tick-borne disease control in livestock improvement in developing countries. Veterinary Parasitology, 71:77-97.         [ Links ]

DIPEOLU, O.O. 1989. Research on ticks of livestock in Africa: Review of the trends, advances and milestones in tick biology and ecology in the decade 1980-1989. Insect Science and its Application, 10:723-740.         [ Links ]

HOOGSTRAAL, H. 1956. African Ixodoidea. I. Ticks of the Sudan (with special reference to Equatoria Province and with preliminary reviews of the genera Boophilus, Margaropus and Hyalomma). Department of the Navy, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, D.C., USA.         [ Links ]

JONGEJAN, F., ZIVKOVIC, D., PEGRAM, R.G., TATCHELL, R.J., FISON, T., LATIF, A.A. & PAINE, G. 1987. Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of the Blue and White Nile ecosystems in the Sudan with particular reference to the Rhipicephalus sanguine-us group. Experimental and Applied Acarology, 3:331-346.         [ Links ]

JONGEJAN, F. & UILENBERG, G. 2004. The global importance of ticks. Parasitology, 129:S1-S12.         [ Links ]

JULLA, I.I. 1985. Theileriosis in the South Sudan, in Immunization against theileriosis in Africa, edited by A.D. Irvin. Proceedings of a workshop held at ILRAD, Nairobi, Kenya, 1-5 October 1984: 27-30.         [ Links ]

JULLA, I.I. 1994. Studies on the epidemiology of theileriosis in Equatorial Region of the Sudan with emphasis on East Coast fever. Ph.D. thesis, University of Khartoum.         [ Links ]

LATIF, A.A. 1984. Resistance to Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum Koch (1844) and Rhipicephalus evertsi Neumann (1897) (Ixodoidea: Ixodidae) by cattle in the Sudan. Insect Science and its Application, 5:509-511.         [ Links ]

LESSARD, P., L'EPLATTENIER, R., NORVAL, R.A.I., KUNDERT, K., DOLAN, T.T., CROZE, H., WALKER, J.B., IRVIN, A.D. & PERRY, B.D. 1990. Geographical information systems for studying the epidemiology of cattle diseases caused by Theileria parva. Veterinary Record, 17:255-262.         [ Links ]

MORZARIA, S.P., TATCHELL, R.J., MINOR, R., PEDERSON, V., JULLA, I., RAHIM, A., DYSON, D. & AARLE, P.A.M. 1981. Preliminary studies on the epidemiology of theileriosis in Eastern Equatoria Province of the Sudan, in Advances in the control of theileriosis, edited by A.D. Irvin, M.P. Cunningham & A.S. Young. The Hague: Martinus Njihoff Publishers.         [ Links ]

OKELLO-ONEN, J., HASSAN, S.M. & ESSUMAN, S. 1999. Taxonomy of African ticks: An identification manual. Nairobi: ICIPE Science Press.         [ Links ]

OSMAN, A.M. & HASSAN, S.M. 2003. The ecology and distribution of the East Africa tick Amblyomma lepidum: A review. The Sudan Journal of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, 42(1 & 2):45-53.         [ Links ]

TATCHELL, R.J. & EASTON, E. 1986. Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) ecological studies in Tanzania. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 76:229-246.         [ Links ]

WALKER, A.R., BOUATTOUR, A., CAMICAS, J.L., ESTRADA-PEÑA, A., HORAK, I.G., LATIF, A.A., PEGRAM, R.G. & PRESTON, P.M. 2003. Ticks of domestic animals in Africa: A guide to identification of species. Edinburgh, Scotland: Bioscience Reports.         [ Links ]

 

 

Accepted for publication 28 September 2007-Editor

 

 

* Author to whom correspondence is to be directed: E-mail: diaeldin2000@hotmail.com