4 27 M. K. Mohammad & S. Y. Jassim Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2011) 11 (4): 27-31 DISTRIBUTION OF HARD TICK SPECIES AMONG SHEEP OVIS ARIES L. IN AL-ANBAR PROVINCE, WESTERN DESERT OF IRAQ Mohammad K. Mohammad* and Suhad Y. Jassim Iraq Natural History Research Centre and Museum, University of Baghdad, Bab Al-Muadham, Baghdad, Iraq *email: amarmkm82@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The Middle East fat tailed sheep Ovis aries L. examined within the boundaries of Al-Anbar province, western Iraq was found to acquire seven species of ixodid ticks namely, Hyalomma anatolicum, H. excxavatum, H. marginatum turanicum, H. detritum, Hyalomma sp., Rhipicephalus turanicus and R. s. sanguineus. The results discussed with the pertinent literature. INTRODUCTION Al-Anbar Province occupies most of the western desert area and constitutes a very important pasture land for domestic animals. Thalen (1979) considered western desert district as one of five divisions of physiographical zones of Iraq. It has a subtropical, continental and arid climate. Rainfall is mainly in winter and early spring (November-April). Summer is dry and hot. Temperature is 45ºC in July and August, while in December and January frost is regularly recorded. The Middle East fat tailed sheep Ovis aries, goat Capra hircus and camel Camelus dromedarius are the most important domestic animals raised by local Bedouins. The estimated number of sheep is 5.582 million according to 1971 statistics. No current estimation is available now. Family Ixodidae (hard ticks) is the largest family of ticks and contains 713 valid species (Barker and Murrell (2004), some of them play major role, as vectors, in spreading different diseases of livestock and human beings throughout the world (Kakar and Kakarsulmenkhel, 2008). Works on ixodid tick fauna of Iraq is rather fragmentary and scanty, most of them represent surveys from domestic animal with a very small part of attention to the ticks of wild vertebrates. This includes early works of Hubbard (1955), Hoogstraal and Kaiser (1958), Robson and Robb (1967), Robson et al. (1968 a, b, c; 1969 a, b, c) in series of publications composed of seven papers deal with examination of domestic animals infestation in Baghdad, Kut, Amara, Basra, Hilla, Karbala, Diwaniya, Nasiriya and Mosul Provinces, but surprisingly, they did not examined any from Al-Anbar Province. Two decades later, Shamsuddin and Mohammad (1988) in their survey for ticks in Al-Anbar province mentioned presence of four ixodid tick species: Boophilus kohlsi, Hyalomma a. anatolicum, Rhipicephalus leporis, R. turanicus as well as Hyalomma nymphs. They found that 88.6% of sheep in whole Iraq were infested with six species of hard ticks belonging to Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus and Boophilus genera. While Abdul-Rassoul and Mohammad (1988) in their work on the ticks of desert in Iraq found sheep infested with six ixodid tick species, five of them belong to Hyalomma and mailto:amarmkm82@yahoo.com 28 Distribution of Hard Tick Species Among Sheep one to Phipicephalus. Then Mohammad (1996) found that sheep of western desert were infested with four Hyalomma spp. and two Rhipicephalus spp. The aim of this work is to investigate about hard ticks infest the sheep in Al-Anbar Province as the sheep are the most important animals raised by locals. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study depends on 490 specimens of ixodid ticks of the collection of Iraq Natural History Research Center & Museum and the personal collection of the authors collected through filed trips to the area achieved during 2004-2009. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table (1) summarizes the results of this study. This would show that 36.7% of collected specimens belong to Hyalomma excavatum, 30.6% to H. anatolicum, 16.3% to H. marginatum turanicum, 8.1% to Rhipicephalus s. sanguines, 2% to R. turanicus and 4% to Hyalomma sp. This in general agreement with the findings of Abdul-Rassoul & Mohammad (1988) although there are some differences in the values of infection rates. They found that H. excavatum was the most dominant species. They found also that 93% of examined specimens belong to geuns Hyalomma, while this study shows that 89.9% belong to Hyalomma. Table (1): Species, number of specimens, percentages of ticks infesting sheep in Al-Anbar Province. Tick species Number of ticks % of total ticks Hyalomma anatolicum 150 30.6 H. excavatum 180 36.7 H. detrium 10 2 H. marginatum turanicum 80 16.3 Hyalomma sp. 20 4 Rhipicephalus turanicus 10 2 R. s. sanguineus 40 8.1 Mohammad (1996) mentioned that Hyalomma was considered to be the most dominant genus and widely distributed in the western desert. This may because they are less specific to their hosts in addition its adaption to the arid environment and high temperature at this region. Reporting Hyalomma marginatum turanicum and H. detritum from sheep with relatively low rate of infestation agrees with Abdul-Rassoul & Mohammad (1988) and Shamsuddin & Mohammad (1988) except for the second species which was absent from the list of ticks infest sheep provided by later paper. Al-Khalifa et al. (2007) in their study on ticks infesting camels in Saudi Arabia found that infestation rate with Hyalomma excavatum exceeded that of H. anatolicum. This is in agreement with the present results. They thought that host preference was the reason for their findings. However, it is justified to say that it is true also to assume that H. excavatum is more adapted to desert environment than H. anatolicum. The same finding was observed by Nabian and Rahbari (2008) in their paper on the occurrence of soft and hard ticks on ruminants in Zagros Mountainous areas of Iran. Presence of five species out of seven found in this study belong to genus Hyalomma is rather not surprising and the studied area, with its arid environment, is not an exception. 29 M. K. Mohammad & S. Y. Jassim Kolonin (2009) in his book "fauna of ixodid ticks of the world" stated that the genus Hyalomma is a small flourishing group of ixodid ticks well adapted to living in arid biotopes, and a high degree of adaptation to hot and dry open habitats becomes apparent in the morphology (well developed spherical eyes, high legs), physiology (successful metamorphosis under reduced humidity) and behavior (active search of host) of species of this genus, he added also that ticks of this genus occur only in dry areas of the Old World. On the other hand, the results show that 10.1% of ticks belong to genus Rhipicephalus. Two species of this genus are recorded in this study namely, Rhipicephalus s. sanguinus and R. turanicus with infestation rate of 8.1% and 2% respectively. This is rather surprising from two points of view, first is the previous studies in Iraq which showed higher infestation rate, for example Abdul-Rassoul and Mohammad (1988) found it 19.9%, while Al-Khalifa et al. (2007) in Saudi Arabia found it ranging between 86.2%-89.2% in a two years study. This somewhat hard to explain but more extensive collection of ticks from sheep may reveal the actual situation of these two species in this area. The second surprise is that infestation rate of Rhipicephalus s. sanguineus exceeds that of R. turanicus. This may be correlated to the continuous presence of guard dogs to the herds of sheep all the time, day and night. It is known that the first species (the brown dog tick) usually infests dogs while the second infests sheep and goats. LITEATURE CITED Abdul-Rassoul and Mohammad (1988). Ticks (Ixodoidea , Acarina) of desert in Iraq. Bull. Iraq Nat. Hist. Mus., 8(1): 11-24. Al-Khalifa, M. S., Khalil, G. M. and Diab, F. M. 2007 A two-year study of ticks infesting camels in Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences 14(2): 211-220. Hoogstraal, H. and Kasier, M. (1958). The ticks (Ixodoidea) of Iraq: Keys, Hosts and Distribution. J. Iraqi Med. Professions, 6; 58-84. Hubbard, C. A. 1955. Some ticks from Iraq. Ent. News, 66: 189-190. Kakar, M. N. and Kakarsulemankhel, J. k. 2008. Re-description of Hyatomma anatolicum excavatum Koch, 1844 (Metastigmata, Ixodidae). Pak. Entomol., 30(2): 141-146. Kolonin, G. V. 2009 Fauna of ixodid ticks of the world (Acari, ixodidae), Moscow. Mohammad. M. K., 1996 A bio-taxonomic study on the hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of some domestic and wild animal from Iraq. Ph. D. thises, College of Science, University of Baghdad. Nabian S. and Rahbari, S. 2008 Occurrence of soft and hard ticks on ruminants in Zagros Mountainous Area of Iran. Iranian Journal Arthropod-Borne Dis, (2008), 2(1): 16-20. Barker, S. C. and Murrell, A. 2004 Systematics and evolution of ticks with a list of valid genus and species names. Parasitology, 129: 15-36. Robson, J. and Robb, J. M. 1967 Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq: Spring and early summer infestation in the Liwas of Baghdad, kut, Amara and Basra.J. Med. Ent.,4(3): 289-293. 30 Distribution of Hard Tick Species Among Sheep Robson, J. and Robb, J. M. and Al-Wahayyib, T. 1968a Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq. Part 2: Summer infestation in the Liwas of Hilla, Karbala, Diwaniya and Nasiriya. J. Med. Ent., 5 (1): 27-31. Robson, J. and Robb, J. M. and Hawa, N. J. 1968b Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq. Part 3: Autumn infestations in the Liwas of Kut, Amara and Basra; winter and summer infestations in the Liwa of Baghdad .J. Med. Ent., 5 (2): 257-261. Robson, J. and Robb, J. M. and Hawa, N. J. 1968c Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq. Part 4: A comparison of infestation in winter and early summer in Liwa of Mosul. J. Med. Ent., 5 (2):261-264. Robson, J. and Robb, J. M. and Hawa, N. J. 1969a Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq. Part 5: Infestations in the Liwas of Diwaniya and Nasiriya (spring), Karbala (winter), and Hilla (autumn and winter). J. Med. Ent., 6 (2): 120-124. Robson, J. and Robb, J. M., Hawa, N. J. and Al-Wahayyib, T. 1969b Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq. Part 6: Distribution. J. Med. Ent., 6 (2): 125-127. Robson, J. and Robb, J. M., Hawa, N. J. and Al-Wahayyib, T. 1969c Ticks (Ixodoidea) of domestic animals in Iraq. Part 7: Seasonal incidence on cattle, sheep and goats in the Tigris- Euphrates plain. J. Med. Ent., 6 (2): 127-130. Shamsuddin, M. and Mohammad, M. K. 1988 Incidence, distribution and host relationships of some ticks (Ixodoidea) in Iraq. J. Univ. Kuwait (Science), 15: 321-330. Thalen, D. C. P. 1979 Ecology and utilization of desert shrub rangelands in Iraq. Dr. W. Junk B. V._ Publishers, The Hague, 448 pp. 31 M. K. Mohammad & S. Y. Jassim Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2011) 11 (4): 27-31 في محافظة االنبار، .Ovis aries Lتوزیع انواع القراد الصلب بین الضأن صحراء العراق الغربیة سھاد یاسین جاسم ومحمد كاظم محمد جامعة بغداد، باب المعظم، بغداد، الطبیعيمتحف التاریخ مركز بحوث و العراق الخالصة ضمن حدود محافظة االنبار، غرب العراق .Ovis aries Lتم فحص الضأن :ووجد بانھا تصاب بسبعة انواع من القراد الصلب وھي Hyalomma anatolicum, H. excxavatum, H. marginatum turanicum, H. detritum, Hyalomma sp., Rhipicephalus turanicus and R. s. sanguineus. .نوقشت النتائج في ضوء البحوث ذات العالقة