Journal of Parasitology (2009) 95, 728-733

Pavel Siroky, Peter Mikulícek, David Jandzík, Hajigholi Kami, Andrei D. Mihalca, Rachid Rouag, Martin Kamler, Christoph Schneider, Martin Záruba and David Modry (2009)
Co-distribution pattern of a haemogregarine Hemolivia mauritanica (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae) and its vector Hyalomma aegyptium (Metastigmata: Ixodidae)
Journal of Parasitology 95 (3), 728-733
Abstract: Hyalomma aegyptium ticks were collected from tortoises, Testudo graeca, at localities in northern Africa, the Balkans, and the Near and Middle East. The intensity of infestation ranged from 1-37 ticks per tortoise. The sex ratio of feeding ticks was male-biased in all tested populations. Larger tortoises carried more ticks than did the smaller tortoises. The juveniles were either not infested, or carried only a poor tick load. Hyalomma aegyptium was absent in the western Souss Valley and Ourika Valley in Morocco, the Cyrenaica Peninsula in Libya, Jordan, and the Antilebanon Mountains in Syria. Hemolivia mauritanica, a heteroxenous apicomplexan cycling between T. graeca and H. aegyptium, was confirmed in Algeria, Romania, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. Its prevalence ranged from 84% in Romania (n = 45), 82% in eastern Turkey (n = 28), and 82% in the area of northwestern Syria with adjacent Turkish borderland (n = 90), to 38% in Lebanon (n = 8) and in only 1 of 16 sampled tortoises in Algeria. The intensity of parasitemia in the studied areas ranged from 0.01% up to 28.17%. The percentage of Hemolivia-infected erythrocytes was significantly higher in adults. All tortoises from Hyalomma-free areas were Hemolivia-negative. Remarkably, all 29 T. graeca from Jabal Duruz (southwestern Syria) and 36 T. graeca from the area north of Middle Atlas (Morocco) were Hemolivia-negative, despite the fact that ticks parasitized all adult tortoises in these localities. Identical host preferences of H. aegyptium and H. mauritanica suggest the occurrence of co-evolution within the Testudo-Hyalomma-Hemolivia host-parasite complex.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Andrei D. Mihalca

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Romania
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Turkey
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Iran
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Algeria
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Morocco
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Lebanon
	Hyalomma aegyptium		Syria