The effect of dipping on parasitic and free-living populations of Amblyomma hebraeum on a farm and on an adjacent nature reserve.

Domestic stock on a farm 30 km north of Grahamstown were treated with an acaricide at regular intervals over a period of several years. This resulted in a marked reduction in all stages of development of Amblyomma hebraeum on kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), scrub hares (Lepus saxatilis) and helmeted guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) which were on the farm compared with the burdens of similar animals in an adjacent nature reserve. The populations of free-living larvae of A. hebraeum on this farm and on another farm 10 km south of Grahamstown, on which the domestic stock were also regularly treated with acaricides, were markedly reduced when a comparison was made with the free-living populations in the adjoining nature reserves.