Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) ecological studies in Tanzania

Abstract

AbstractTicks were regularly collected from cattle along transects in Sukumaland and the Southern Highlands, Tanzania, and from locations near Tabora, Mbeya, Arusha and Dar es Salaam from 1973 to 1976. Marked seasonal variation in abundance occurred in Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neumann in the Southern Highlands (but not in Sukumaland) and in Amblyomma variegatum (F.) near Tabora. It was possible to detect Theileria parva antibodies in cattle sera from the Southern Highlands only during the season of R. appendiculatus adult abundance. Despite this there was no evidence of enzootic instability of the disease. The results demonstrate that the behaviour and distributions of these and the other species of ticks found are not fixed and constant but vary according to a complicated interplay of factors as yet imperfectly understood, such as climate and vegetation and host density, susceptibility and grazing habits.