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Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of livestock in Nicaragua, with notes about distribution

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Abstract

We document the species of ticks that parasitize livestock in Nicaragua. The study was based on tick collection on cattle and horses from 437 farms in nine departments. Of 4841 animals examined (4481 cows and 360 horses), 3299 were parasitized, which represent 68 % of the bovines and 67 % of the equines in study: 59 cows and 25 horses were parasitized by more than one species. In addition, 280 specimens of the entomological museum in León were examined. The ticks found on cattle were Rhipicephalus microplus (75.2 % of the ticks collected), Amblyomma mixtum (20.8 %), A. parvum (2.6 %), A. tenellum (0.7 %), A. maculatum (0.7 %). While the ticks collected from the horses were: Dermacentor nitens (41.5 %), A. mixtum (31.7 %), R. microplus (13.8 %), A. parvum (6.5 %), A. tenellum (3.3 %), D. dissimilis (2.4 %) and A. maculatum (0.8 %).

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Acknowledgments

To MAGFOR authorities for providing general information and to the owners of the visited farms. To the UNAN students: Roldan Wheelock, Roger Membreño, Miguel García, Martín Palacios, Octavio. Aguilar, Duilio Sandino, Eleazar Martínez, Wilmer Jaime, Byron. Nitelet, José Vallejos, Wilber Rocha, I. López, Julio Cáceres, Freddy López, for their collaboration in the field work, and to all anonymous farmer that allowed to revise their animals. To Lady Mejía of Colección de Referencias de Garrapatas de la Universidad Autónoma de Nicaragua en León (CRG-UNAN/León). To Rebecca Fischer (Baylor College of Medicine, Tx, USA) for her review and comments on the manuscript; to Dmitry Apanaskevich (USNTC) for his collaboration. SB received funds from UNAN-Leon and SENACYT Grant APY-GC-2015-43.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Veterinario de Diagnóstico e Investigación, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, León, Nicaragua

    Christiane Düttmann & Byron Flores

  2. Dirección Ejecutiva de Cuarentena Agropecuaria, Ministerio de Desarrollo Agropecuario, Chiriquí, Panama

    Nathaniel Kadoch Z

  3. Departamento de Investigación en Entomología Médica, Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Avenida Justo Arosemena, Apo. Postal 0816-02593, Panama, Panama

    Sergio Bermúdez C

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  1. Christiane Düttmann
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Correspondence to Sergio Bermúdez C.

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Düttmann, C., Flores, B., Kadoch Z, N. et al. Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of livestock in Nicaragua, with notes about distribution. Exp Appl Acarol 70, 125–135 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-016-0059-9

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