Abundance, diversity and seasonal dynamics of hard ticks infesting cattle in Isfahan province, central Iran

The objectives of this study were to determine the diversity, seasonal dynamics and abundance of ticks infesting cattle in Isfahan zone, Iran. The study was conducted in three traditional cattle farms. No acaricides had been applied to cattle at the selected farms. Adult ticks were collected twice per month from different parts of the cattle's body. Environmental data, including relative humidity, temperature and rainfall data were recorded in each sampling. A total of 1206 ticks (56% male and 44% female) were collected in the selected farms: Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum was the most abundant species (85.5%), followed by Hyalomma marginatum marginatum (8.7%) and Rhipicephalus sanguinus (6.5%), respectively. Ixodid tick abundance showed a dramatic increase, which led to remarkable abundance peaks during the spring (April, May and June), mainly due to the H. anatolicum anatolicum activity. The highest number of H. marginatum marginatum belonged to the end of the spring, and early summer. R. sanguinus was only collected in March (end of the winter) and June (end of the spring). The maximum density of the collected hard ticks was belonged to the spring (68.4%). About 27.1%, 3.5% and 1% of the whole tick samples were collected in summer, fall and winter, respectively. The maximum number of ticks were collected from udders (63.2%) followed by 36.1% from under the tail and 0.7% between the legs, while no ticks were found on the other parts of the animal’s body. Significant correlation was detected between tick number and mean temperature (P