Smit Andeliza, Mandara Stephen, Dlamkile Zinathi, Morar-Leather Darshana, Bosman Anna-Mari, Neves Luis
Tick Research Group, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.
Department of Animal Production Sciences, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera, Zimbabwe.
Exp Appl Acarol. 2025 Apr 10;94(3):50. doi: 10.1007/s10493-025-01017-7.
Herewith we present the first detection of Amblyomma lepidum (Dönitz, 1909) on cattle in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's smallholder farmers rely heavily on their livestock, mainly cattle and goats. Even though great importance is placed on cattle farming, no systematic surveillance of tick and tick-borne diseases is currently being conducted in the country. Forming part of the Amblyomma genus, A. lepidum is a brightly ornate tick with great vector potential, which could have harmful effects on cattle and cattle farming in Zimbabwe. This report documents the presence of both male and female A. lepidum ticks that were morphologically identified, and with the use of two ribosomal genes, were molecularly characterised as A. lepidum. Hypotheses can be made as to how this tick was introduced into Zimbabwe; however, its presence highlights the need for a systematic surveillance programme to track not only new introductions, such as the aforementioned, but the current distribution of this tick population in Zimbabwe.
在此,我们首次报告在津巴布韦的牛身上检测到了鳞斑花蜱(Dönitz,1909)。津巴布韦的小农户严重依赖他们的牲畜,主要是牛和山羊。尽管养牛业非常重要,但该国目前并未对蜱虫及蜱传疾病进行系统监测。鳞斑花蜱属于花蜱属,是一种色彩鲜艳、极具传播媒介潜力的蜱虫,可能会对津巴布韦的牛和养牛业产生有害影响。本报告记录了通过形态学鉴定出的雌雄鳞斑花蜱的存在,并利用两个核糖体基因对其进行分子特征分析,确定为鳞斑花蜱。关于这种蜱虫是如何传入津巴布韦的,可以提出一些假设;然而,它的出现凸显了需要一个系统的监测计划,不仅要追踪新传入的物种,如上述蜱虫,还要追踪津巴布韦这种蜱虫种群的当前分布情况。