Prevalence and Identification of Tick Infestation in Bali’s Cattle in Badung Regency

Tick is an ectoparasite in cattle that economically very important because it can reduce livestock production and productivity. This study aims to determine the prevalence and to identify types of tick in Bali’s cattle in Badung Regency. The prevalence of tick in relation to gender and age was studied. A total of 285 cattle was examined, of which, 65 (22.8%) cattle were infected by tick. The female cattle showed higher (25%) tick infestation than male cattle (19.05 %) without significant differences (p>0.05). Prevalence of tick was significantly higher (p<0.05) in old cattle, age above 5 years (33.7%), followed by adult cattle, age of 2 -5 years (20.6%), and the least prevalence in young cattle, age under 2 year (13.3%). Two genera of tick were identified from the study. Among the tick, Boophilus sp. 15.17% was the most prevalent tick genus identified, while the rest was Rhipicephalus sp. 7.01 %. Favorable predilection sites for tick were ears, mammary gland, back leg, and neck of the cattle. This study could help in a better understanding of the prevalence of tick patterns and risk factors in cattle populations for the implementation of effective control plans.

Molecular Characteristics of Rickettsia in Ticks Collected Along the Southern Border of Mongolia

Introduction: Tick-borne infectious dDermacentor and iseases represent a significant threat to public health, particularly in regions where individuals frequently enter tick habitats. This is especially true in Mongolia, where 26% of the population are pastoral herders whose lifestyle results in high risk of tick-borne diseases, which include Rickettsial diseases. In this study, ticks collected along Mongolia’s southern border were tested for the presence of Rickettsia spp. DNA to better understand the risk of this bacterial infection in the region. Methods: Dermacentor and Hyalomma ticks (n = 4,022) collected across southern Mongolia (aimags Bayankhongor, Dornogovi, Govi-Altai, Khovd, and Omnogovi) were pooled and tested for Rickettsia spp. by real-time PCR. Subsequent melt-curve analyses and Sanger sequencing were used to identify specific Rickettsia species. Results: Approximately 64% of the 786 tick pools tested positive for Rickettsia bacteria. Melt curve analyses identified between four and six different Rickettsia species circulating in these tick pools. Amplicon sequencing of the ompA gene from selected positive samples identified Rickettsia spp. that closely resembled R. raoultii and R. sibirica. Detection rates varied greatly by sampling region and tick genus. Dermacentor ticks from the Govi-Altai region had the highest maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) infection rate of 48.4% (95% CI: 41.7-56.5%) while Hyalomma ticks collected in Omnogovi had an MLE rate of 7.6% (95% CI: 6.2-9.2%). Conclusions: Multiple Rickettsia species were found to circulate at high rates within native tick species in southern Mongolia. Further studies are required to investigate the clinical burden of disease associated with these Rickettsia spp. in exposed Mongolian populations.

Molecular identification of some Haemaphysalis species (Acari: Ixodidae) using mitochondrial and nuclear evidences in parts of Iran

Haemaphysalis is the second largest ixodid tick genus. We decided to identify the Iranian Haemaphysalis species with the analysis of mitochondrial (COI & 16S rRNA) and nuclear (ITS2) gene sequences. Finally, 21 PCR products were sequenced, successfully. Phylogenetic trees were analyzed using BEAST software and Bayesian Inference method. Ha. sulcata and Ha. punctata were well differentiated using the 16S rRNA, COI and ITS2 genes. According to 16S rRNA and COI phylogenetic trees Ha. inermis is situated as an ancestral clade.

Haemaphysalis cretacea a nymph of a new species of hard tick in Burmese amber

The first fossil potentially assignable to the extant hard tick genus Haemaphysalis CL Koch (1844) (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is described from the Late Cretaceous (ca. 99 Ma) Burmese amber of Myanmar. Haemaphysalis (Alloceraea) cretacea sp. nov. is the oldest and only fossil representative of this genus; living members of which predominantly feed on mammals. Their typical hosts are known since at least the Jurassic and the discovery of a mid-Cretaceous parasite, which might have fed on mammals raises again the question of to what extent ticks are coupled to their (modern) host groups. An inferred Triassic split of Argasidae (soft ticks) into the bird-preferring Argasinae and mammal-preferring Ornithodorinae dates to about the time when dinosaurs (later including birds) and mammaliaforms as potential hosts were emerging. Ixodidae may have split into Prostriata and Metastriata shortly after the end-Permian mass extinction, an event which fundamentally altered the terrestrial vertebrate fauna. Prostriata (the genus Ixodes) prefer birds and mammals today, and some may have used groups like cynodonts in the Triassic. Basal metastriate ticks (e.g. Amblyomma) prefer reptiles, but derived metastriates (including Haemaphysalis) again prefer mammals. Here, we may be looking at a younger (Cretaceous?) shift associated with more recent mammalian radiations.

Amblyomma birmitum a new species of hard tick in Burmese amber

SUMMARYAmblyomma birmitum sp. nov. is formally described as a new record from 99 Ma old Burmese amber from Myanmar. This confirms the presence of the extant hard tick genus Amblyomma C.L. Koch, 1844 (Ixodida: Ixodidae) in the Late Cretaceous. This discovery is placed in its wider context and some reports of fossil hard ticks, such as a Hyalomma C.L. Koch, 1844 in Eocene Baltic amber, are misidentifications. The genus Amblyomma belongs to the clade Metastriata, a group which probably also accommodates two extinct genera, Cornupalpatum Poinar and Brown, 2003 and Compluriscutata Poinar and Buckley, 2008, also found in Burmese amber. All three fossils are thus only a little younger than published molecular divergence time estimates (ca. 124 ± 17 Ma) for the Metastriata lineage. Amblyomma has a largely Gondwanan distribution today. However, in some biogeographical scenarios, e.g. the Samafrica model, its predicted radiation time postdates the dissolution of the original Gondwana supercontinent raising questions about how its current distribution pattern was achieved.

A NEW SPECIES OF THE TICK GENUS IXODES (ACARI: IXODIDAE) PARASITIC ON MUSTELIDS (MAMMALIA: CARNIVORA) IN CANADA

Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) gregsoni sp.nov. is described from adult females, nymphs, and larvae collected from the boreal forests of eastern Canada on American mink, Mustela vison Schreber, a species of weasel, Mustela sp., and American marten, Martes americana (Turton) (Carnivora: Mustelidae). Its morphological attributes, hosts, and distribution are compared with those of apparently its most closely related species, Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) texanus Banks.