Tick fauna of sheep in east Serbia

Abstract

The present study was conducted in 52 sheep flocks from the territory of east Serbia in the period of March to November 2017, using into consideration the sesonal occurance and prevalence of ticks. Ticks were from sheep by means lightly sprung forceps. The tick species and sex/gender were identified by morphometric characteristics. In total, we examined 216 sheep and tick infestation was detected in 39.24% of examined animals. The most abundant species was Ixodes ricinus found in 41.91%, followed by Dermacentor marginatus (27.91%), Rhipicephalus bursa (10.92%), R.sanguineus (9.92%), D.recticulatus (5.51%) and Haemaphysalis punctata (3.97%). Of the total number of collected ticks, 57.15% were females and 42.85% were males. The population maximum for Dermacentor marginatus, D.recticulatus and Haemaphysalis punctata occurred in April. In May was population peak for I.ricinus and it was noted that this species started to decrease in abundance in June. Rhipicephalus sanguineus and R.bursa reached maxima decreasing until August, and disappearing completely in September and October. The autumn population peak in September occurred for the I.ricinus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus and in October for the I.ricinus and R.bursa.