Ticks of four-toed elephant shrews and Southern African hedgehogs
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Ticks of four-toed elephant shrews and Southern African hedgehogs | |
| Creator | Horak, Ivan G. Welman, Shaun Hallam, Stacey L. Lutermann, Heike Mzilikazi, Nomakwezi | |
| Description | Several studies on ticks infesting small mammals, including elephant shrews, have been conducted in South Africa; however, these studies have included only a single four-toed elephant shrew and no hedgehogs. This study thus aimed to identify and quantify the ixodid ticks infesting four-toed elephant shrews and Southern African hedgehogs. Four-toed elephant shrews (Petrodromus tetradactylus) were trapped in dense shrub undergrowth in a nature reserve in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal. They were separately housed, first in cages and later in glass terraria fitted with wire-mesh bases to allow detached ticks to fall through for collection. Southern African hedgehogs (Atelerix frontalis) were hand caught on a farm in the eastern region of the Northern Cape Province and all visible ticks were collected by means of tweezers while the animals were anaesthetised. The ticks from each animal were preserved separately in 70% ethanol for later identification and counting. The immature stages of five ixodid tick species were collected from the elephant shrews, of which Rhipicephalus muehlensi was the most common. It has not been recorded previously on any species of elephant shrew. Three ixodid tick species were collected from the hedgehogs. Large numbers of adult Haemaphysalis colesbergensis, which has not been encountered previously on hedgehogs, were collected from these animals. Four-toed elephant shrews are good hosts of the larvae and nymphs of R. muehlensi, and Southern African hedgehogs are good hosts of adult H. colesbergensis. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2011-03-17 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/ojvr.v78i1.243 | |
| Source | Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research; Vol 78, No 1 (2011); 3 pages 2219-0635 0030-2465 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/243/300
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/243/333
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/243/301
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/243/302
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/downloadSuppFile/243/90
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/downloadSuppFile/243/91
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/downloadSuppFile/243/92
https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/downloadSuppFile/243/93
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