Ticks of Domestic Animals in Africa: A guide to identification of species 

First published in 2003  by: A.R.Walker, A.Bouattour, J.-L.Camicas, A.Estrada-Peña, I.G.Horak, A.A.Latif, R.G.Pegram & P.M.Preston. Bioscience Reports, Edinburgh. Sponsored by the International Consortium on Ticks and Tick Borne Disease of the European Union.  221 pages, line drawings and photographs, illustrated glossary of all terms used for identification; covers all of Africa, also Madagascar.

ticks africa cover  ticks africa page

Summary of contents

Glossary of terms is illustrated as definitions of the characters and their states for identifying ticks. 

Chapter 2 describes feeding, reproduction and life cycles of ticks. Instructions are provided for collecting and preservation of ticks.

Chapter 3 shows how to identify ticks to the correct genus. This is illustrated with 28 colour photographs and 8 sets of line drawings.

Chapter 4 consists of 176 pages showing how to identify the commonest 48 species of ticks that are important to health of domestic animals in Africa and Madagascar. Each species has descriptions of its general characters, hosts, life cycle, and disease relations, and its distribution is mapped. The adult female and male ticks are identified using a matrix of character and their states for each genus. Every relevant character state is illustrated by line drawings.  

Download revised version of 2014 (12 Mb)

In association with publication of this identification guide the ICTTD distributed: "An introduction to the biology and control of ticks in Africa" by Abdallah A.Latif & Alan R.Walker.

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For readers of the above article on ticks and their control, there is also a more detailed review paper, published in a research journal. "Eradication and control of livestock ticks: biological, economic and social perspectives". A.R.Walker, 2011.

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More information and images of ticks can be found in Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, for example the article: Ticks of Domestic Animals.

Ticks of Australia: The species that infest domestic animals and humans

Stephen C. Barker & Alan R. Walker

Stephen Barker of the University of Queensland. Published 2014 in Zootaxa, 3816 (1) 1-144, (Magnolia Press, Auckland) ISSN 1175-5326. 

tick holophoto australia  Bothriocroton hydrosauri female

This identification guide to 16 species is similar in content and style to the guide to African ticks. At 144 pages it contains a fully illustrated glossary and detailed accounts of the biology of these ticks.

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