Prevalence of cattle ticks in Morocco.

During July 1980 the prevalence of cattle ticks was studied in 4 bioclimatic regions of Morocco. All the 24 farms examined were infested. The mean number of ticks per animal varied from 6.5 to 36.3 in different regions. Eight species of ticks were identified: Hyalomma marginatum, H. detritum, H. lusitanicum, H. anatolicum, Boophilus annulatus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, R. turanicus, R. bursa. Numerically H. detritum (30.8%) H. marginatum (25.5%) and B. annulatus (29.2%) were most important. The 3 Rhipicephalus species together formed only 3.9% of the total tick population. H. marginatum and H. lusitanicum were present in all the 4 climatic zones studied.