Garine-Wichatitsky M. de, Meeüs T. de, Guégan Jean-François, Renaud F. (1999). Spatial and temporal distributions of parasites : can wild and domestic ungulates avoid African tick larvae. Parasitology, 119, p. 455-466. ISSN 0031-1820.
Titre du document
Spatial and temporal distributions of parasites : can wild and domestic ungulates avoid African tick larvae
Année de publication
1999
Type de document
Article
Auteurs
Garine-Wichatitsky M. de, Meeüs T. de, Guégan Jean-François, Renaud F.
Source
Parasitology, 1999,
119, p. 455-466 ISSN 0031-1820
Infestation of a new host is a crucial stage in the life-cycle of parasites, and the possibility that hosts avoid infesting contact depends, in part, on the predictability of infestation risk. Immature free stages of ticks (Acari, Ixodidae) have limited mobility and survival in the vegetation and strongly depend on host behaviours for their infestation. We studied spatial and temporal distributions of the larvae of 2 major groups of African tick species in a ranch in Zimbabwe. No difference in the abundance of Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi larvae was found among vegetation types and during most of the seasonal cycle, and no reliable indicator of their presence on a given site was identified. Rhipicephalus appendiculatus/Rhipicephalus zambeziensis larvae are mainly found during the cool dry season, in vegetation types situated close to permanent water holes or dominated by Acacia trees, which provide key forage resources for ungulates ; and several indicators of their presence were identified. For both tick groups, spatial and temporal distributions of the larvae result in an optimized contact with ungulate hosts : R. e. evertsi larvae are unpredictable and thus unavoidable by hosts, whereas R. appendiculatus/R. zambeziensis larvae ae predictable but also unavoidable because they are assoicated with key-resources for ungulates. (Résumé d'auteur)
Plan de classement
Tiques [052TIAC01]
;
Maladies des animaux [080PROANI05]
