The cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus has recently invaded West Africa and caused anxiety amongst farmers in Ivory Coast, as livestock production was severely affected. The introduction of this tick species has remained unnoticed for several years, as all the members of this genus are very similar in appearance. To overcome the cumbersome morphological identification of the four c...

The tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (formerly Boophilus microplus) is the major ectoparasite affecting livestock in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Conventional tick control is based on the use of acaricides but immunization of bovines with tick gut proteins induces only a partial protective immune response. Based on this information, distinct research groups have explored the poss...

Despite the large number of collection records, there are no recent collections of ixodid ticks of this magnitude in the Waterberg area, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Free-living ticks on a commercial game farm were obtained by a total of 432 drag-samples in eight sample sites from September 2003 to August 2008. The ticks were collected to establish the difference between tick species and den...

The species and distribution of ticks infesting cattle, goats and dogs in the eastern region of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa and Maputo Province, Mozambique were determined from collections made from these animals at 72 localities in the former region and 30 in the latter. Eleven ixodid and one argasid species were recovered in the Eastern Cape Province and 15 ixodid species in Maput...

The present study describes an accurate quantitative method for quantifying the adherence of conidia to the arthropod cuticle and the dynamics of conidial germination on the host. The method was developed using conidia of Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) and engorged Rhipicephalus annulatus (Say) (Arachnida: Ixodidae) females and was also ...

Maternal dermatophagy, the eating of maternal skin by offspring, is an unusual form of parental investment involving co-evolved specializations of both maternal skin and offspring dentition, which has been recently discovered in an African caecilian amphibian. Here we report the discovery of this form of parental care in a second, distantly related Neotropical species Siphonops annulatus, where...

A new stunt nematode, from soil around the roots of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.) from Karachi, Pakistan, is described and illustrated as Tylenchorhynchus qasimii n. sp. This new species is characterized by having females with 3-4 head annules, anteriorly directed stylet knobs, absence of post anal extension, presence of rounded sperm filled spermatheca and conoid to bl...