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Preliminary study on the seasonal questing of Ixodes ricinus group ticks in Ain Draham forest (north-western Tunisia) with analyses of their phylogenetic diversity

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Title Preliminary study on the seasonal questing of Ixodes ricinus group ticks in Ain Draham forest (north-western Tunisia) with analyses of their phylogenetic diversity
 
Creator Elati, Khawla
 
Contributor Khammasi Khbou, Médiha
Kahl, Olaf
Mwacharo, Joram
El-Shamaa, Khaled
Rekik, Mourad
Darghouth, Mohamed Aziz
Gharbi, Mohamed
 
Subject good health and well-being
nutrition, health and food security
activity dynamics
 
Description The present study aimed to investigate the activity dynamics of Ixodes ricinus group ticks in a forest located in north-western Tunisia (Aïn Draham, Jendouba District) and assess the variation of abiotic factors (temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and relative humidity) during one year survey from September 2016 to August 2017 using the dragging sampling method. A total of 116 questing ticks was collected from the vegetation consisting of 47 adults (19 females and 28 males, sex ratio M:F = 1.47), 45 nymphs and 24 larvae representing 40.5, 38.8 and 20.7% of the total collected specimens, respectively. Adult I. ricinus were collected during October–May, nymphs during May–August and larvae during July–September. There were statistically significant correlations between adult tick numbers and mean daily relative humidity (Pearson r = 0.77; p = 0.003) and mean daily temperature (r = −0.74; p = 0.006).

The comparison of 16S rDNA sequences from 20 adult ticks of approximately 444 bp length showed variability among 11 sequences. There was a low genetic variability (99% identity with I. ricinus and Ixodes inopinatus sequences from different countries and published in GenBank. These results should be complemented by further surveys in other Tunisian regions to better understand the influence of environmental factors on the biology of I. ricinus and the occurrence of sympatric I. inopinatus ticks. Different molecular markers should be used for better understanding of their taxonomic status.
 
Date 2022-09-23
2023-01-04T21:21:10Z
2023-01-04T21:21:10Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/dspace/limited
Khawla Elati, Médiha Khammasi Khbou, Olaf Kahl, Joram Mwacharo, Khaled El-Shamaa, Mourad Rekik, Mohamed Aziz Darghouth, Mohamed Gharbi. (23/9/2022). Preliminary study on the seasonal questing of Ixodes ricinus group ticks in Ain Draham forest (north-western Tunisia) with analyses of their phylogenetic diversity. Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports, 36.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/67871
Timeless limited access
 
Language en
 
Publisher Elsevier (12 months)
 
Source Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports;36,(2022)