A sonication method for the homogeneous extraction of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from the synganglia of adult ticks is described. The method provides for the extraction of sufficient AChE for multiple assays of enzyme activity in the presence of specific organophosphate (OP) inhibitors for the rapid diagnosis of OP-insensitivity and assignment of homozygous susceptible (SS), heterozygous resis...

Only a small number of tick species are vectors of important economic diseases or toxicosis in sub-Saharan Africa (see Table 1). These are Amblyomma hebraeum, Amblyomma variegatum, Hyalomma dromedarii, Hyalomma truncatum, Ixodes rubicundus, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Rhipicephalus zambe...

The efficacy of an amitraz/cypermethrin pour-on preparation (1% w/v each) was tested against natural tick infestations of buffaloes, eland and blesbok in three separate trials. The eland were also treated with a 0.02% abamectin (w/v) acaricidal pour-on preparation. The amitraz/cypermethrin pour-on was effective against Amblyomma hebraeum, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Rhipicephalus appendicula...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the acaricidal effect of 2 compounds extracted from Eysenhardtia polystachya in vitro, namely coatlines and matlalines. Each extract was obtained by aqueous extraction in a nitrogen atmosphere. Engorged adult females of an amitraz-resistant strain of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus were used to produce larvae and to carry out the adult immersion t...

Of all these limiting factors climate plays the most important role and determines the ecological and geographical distribution and the seasonal activities of a species (Imms, 1931; MacLeod, 1936). Within the climate complex temperature plays a fundamental role, a species being confined within a specific temperature range (Odum, 1963). An environment favourable to a given species can be determi...

The objective of this study was to determine certain aspects of the biology of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus larvae under laboratory and field conditions. Larvae allowed 48 h to select a vertical questing substrate preferred 90 cm rods in length to those of 60 or 30 cm, while in a separate experiment migration from rods 5 cm or 25 cm in length to rods 45 cm in length continued between 4...

The amphibian order Gymnophiona is poorly known, and studies about their reproduction are mainly comparative and descriptive, focusing on the structure of testes, ovaries and oviducts. However, to understand the reproductive processes, including those of the oviparous dermatophagic species, it is important to know the dynamics of storage and mobilization of energetic substrates to gonads and sk...

This study provides basic information on the occurrence of platyhelminths in the wild bullseye puffer (Sphoeroides annulatus) from Sinaloa, Mexico. Specimens of pufferfish were collected from 2 localities: Teacapan (n = 161) and Mazatlan (n = 66). Six species of platyhelminths were recorded: 2 monogeneans (Diclidophoridae: Heterobothrium ecuadori and Capsalidae: Neobenedenia melleni) and 4 dige...

Microplot experiments were established in 1992, 1993, and 1994 to investigate the relationships among Macrophomina phaseolina, Criconemella xenoplax, mad Tylenchorhynchus annulatus on grain sorghum in Louisiana. A factorial treatment arrangement of two grain sorghum hybrids (De Kalb DK 50 and Pioneer hybrid 8333), three levels of M. phaseolina (0, 10, and 100 colony-forming units (CFU)/g soil),...

Continuous cell lines derived from many of the vectors of tick-borne arboviruses of medical and veterinary importance are now available. Their role as tools in arbovirus research to date is reviewed and their potential application in studies of tick cell responses to virus infection is explored, by comparison with recent progress in understanding mosquito immunity to arbovirus infection. A prel...