Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Kerrville, Texas » Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory » LAPRU » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324217
Research Project: Cattle Fever Tick Control and Eradication

Location: Livestock Arthropod Pests Research

Title: Susceptibility of adult engorged ticks, Rhipicephalus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae) to a native heterorhabditid isolate (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae) in Colima, Mexico

Author
item MOLINA-OCHOA, JAIME - Universidad De Colima
item GALINDO-VELASCO, EDELMIRA - Universidad De Colima
item ROSALES-GUTIERREZ, ANA MARIA - Universidad De Colima
item GONZALEZ-RAMIREZ, MARTIN - Universidad De Colima
item LEZAMA-GUTIERREZ, ROBERTO - Universidad De Colima
item CHAN-CUPUL, WILBERT - Universidad De Colima
item Skoda, Steven
item ULLAH, MUHAMMAD - University Of Sargodha
item FOSTER, JOHN - University Of Nebraska

Submitted to: Pakistan Journal of Zoology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2017
Publication Date: 3/30/2018
Citation: Molina-Ochoa, J., Galindo-Velasco, E., Rosales-Gutierrez, A., Gonzalez-Ramirez, M., Lezama-Gutierrez, R., Chan-Cupul, W., Skoda, S.R., Ullah, M.I., Foster, J.E. 2018. Susceptibility of adult engorged ticks, Rhipicephalus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae) to a native heterorhabditid isolate (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae) in Colima, Mexico. Pakistan Journal of Zoology. 50:767-770. https://doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/2018.50.2.sc2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjz/2018.50.2.sc2

Interpretive Summary: The cattle fever tick (CFT) is an economically important tick that parasitizes a variety of livestock species. CFT can transmit the parasite causing Cattle Fever. Although CFT has been eradicated from the U.S. it is necessary to maintain a quarantine zone at the U.S. – Mexico border. New methods of control can aide in reducing overall CFT numbers and, thus, enhance maintenance of the barrier. A nematode (designated isolate JM071) that was isolated from soils near Colima, Mexico (southwestern, Pacific coast), was assayed for pathogenicity against CFT. The nematode inflicted mortality to the ticks in the range of 72-78% after 9-d post-exposure. Further tests will be done to fully identify and characterize the nematode and to investigate its potential for inclusion in a control program against CFT and other pests of veterinary importance.

Technical Abstract: A heterorhabditid nematode isolated from the soil of grasslands in Tecomán, Colima, Mexico, currently designated as Heterorhabditis sp. isolate JMO71, is reported to parasitize engorged cattle ticks, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. Tick mortality ranged between 72-78% after 9-d post-exposure to the nematodes.