Inventory of ixodidea cattle tick populations in three bioclimatic stages of côte d'ivoire

In order to improve ticks campaign fight and ticks borne diseases, an inventory of Ixodideacattle tick populations was realized in three bioclimatics (subsudanese, preforest and forest) zones of Côte d’Ivoire. This study focused particularly 8 sub-prefectures regularly crossed by transhumants cattle coming from Mali and from Burkina Faso. So, from June till August 2012, a total of 480 cattle infested by ticks were sampled. Ticks established in pastures used by the cattle of selected farms of this survey were also collected according to the “flag technic”. A total of2407 ticks were harvested during this study. Their identification gave five genus and eight species of ticks which were Amblyommavariegatum, Haemaphysalisleachi, Hyalommatruncatum, Rhipicephalusmuhsamae, Rhipicephalussanguineus, Rhipicephalussenegalensis, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and Rhipicephalus(Boophilus) microplus. The spatial distribution of all these species seemed uneven in the three studied agro-ecological zones. Two new tickspecies (Haemaphysalisleachi and Rhipicephalusmuhsamae) were identified for the first time in Côte d’Ivoire during this study. This discovery and the changes observed in ticks’ spatial distribution raise the interest of the monitoring and ticks populations control in farms on one hand, and on the other hand by sanitary strengthening measures implemented for the transhumant cattle.