Rhipicephalus microplus
The Asian blue tick is an economically important tick that parasitises a variety of livestock species. It is known as the Australian cattle tick, southern cattle tick, Cuban tick, Madagascar blue tick, and Porto Rican Texas fever tick.Parasitism
It has been recorded on "cattle, buffalo, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, deer, pigs, dogs, buffalo and some wild animals".Distribution
Nearly a cosmopolitan species, Asian blue tick is found in Costa Rica, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cote D'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Tick populations in Australia once thought to belong to R. microplus are now recognized to belong to R. australis, which was reinstated as a sibling species of R. microplus in 2012.
Having formerly been present in the United States, it has since been eradicated there, except for sporadic occurrences in a buffer zone along the Mexican border.
In Louisiana, Governor Ruffin Pleasant in 1917 signed legislation sponsored by freshman State Senator Norris C. Williamson of East Carroll Parish to authorize state funding to eradicate the cattle tick.Life cycle
It has a one-host lifecycle.
