The present study aims to isolate and identify ectoparasites, specifically hard ticks, that infest both domestic and wild rabbits. This research is motivated by the heightened sensitivity of rabbits to infestations by hard ticks, which are recognized as the primary vectors of certain blood-borne diseases, particularly Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF). The study areas were spread across five provinces in Iraq: Baghdad, Karbala, Wasit, Mosul, and Al-Anbar. A total of 85 hard ticks (42 male and 43 female) were infested by 57 rabbits (Leporidae Family), including 19 wild rabbits (hare) with an infestation rate of 100% and 38 domestic rabbits with an infestation rate of 18.42%. Total of infestation was 45.61%. The current results are the occurrence of two genera and five species of Ixodidae Family of hard ticks as follow: Hyalomma anatolicum (Koch, 1844) Rhipicephalus turanicus (Pomerantsef, 1946), Rhipicephalus leporis (Pomerantsef, 1946), Rhipicephalus pravus (Donitz, 1910) and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (Neumann, 1901). Leporidae is considered the new host for the two species R. pravus and R. appendiculatus, as they previously recorded infested other domestic animals such as cattle and sheep in Iraq. Thus, this result contributes additional data to the understanding of hard tick biodiversity in Iraq.
A total of 1346 hard ticks (863♂ and 483 ♀) infested 104 camels, 60 alive camels with 93.33% infestation rate and 44 carcasses of camels had 79.54% infestation rate The total infestation rate was 87.5 %. The current study results revealed ten species of hard ticks family Ixodidae Koch, 1844 related to genus Hyalomma as following: H. dromedarii Koch, 1844, H. schulzii Morel, 1969, H. turanicum Pomerantsev, 1946, H. excavatum Koch, 1844, H. truncatum Koch, 1844, H. scupense Schulzii, 1919, H. marginatum Koch, 1844, H. anatolicum Koch, 1844, H. rufipes Koch, 1844, H. impeltatum Schulze & Schlottke, 1930 from camel Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758 collected from 21 regions belonging to six provinces in middle, w
... Show MoreTicks (Acari: Ixodidae) are ectoparasites that infest livestock in every geographic region of the world and are vectors of several viral, bacterial, and protozoan pathogens to both animals and humans. There is little information is available is about tick presence in Buffalo Bubalus bubalis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Artiodactyla, Bovidae) in Iraq. The current study determined the species of ticks parasitizing Buffalo in some central and southern regions included: Baghdad (Al Fathelia), Karbala (Al-Hussainia), Wasit (Kut and Al-Suwairah), Al-Qadisia (Al- Diwaniyah, Al- Saniya, Al-Mihnawea, and Afak), Thi Qar (Al-Nasiriyah and Al-chibayish), Missan (Amara and Qalaat Salih) and Basrah (Al-Haretha, Al-Madena and Al-Deer). A total of 150 Buffal
... Show MoreA total of 13 samples of domestic cat Felis cattus (Linnaeus, 1758 ) and 9 samples of wild cat Felis chaus furax (de Winton, 1898) of the Felidae Family were trapped and examined to detect the hard ticks. The areas of the collection were: Baghdad, Al-Rashidiya, Tharthar, Nahrawan, AL-Mahmoudiya (middle of Iraq) and AL-Haretha (south of Iraq), Mosul (north of Iraq). The results of the current study revealed that four species belong to two genera of hard ticks: Haemaphysalis sp. (Koch, 1844), Rhipicephalus turanicus (Morel, 1969), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Neumann, 1904) and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (Santos, 1955). The rates and the density of infestation were discussed. The current study aimed to clarify the infestation differe
... Show MoreA total of 228 domestic and wild animals, including sheep, goats, cows, buffaloes, camels, horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, wild hares, Asiatic jackals, and red foxes were examined for ixodid ticks in the central region of Iraq. Nine species of ixodid ticks belong to two genera namely Hyalomma anatolicum Koch, 1844, H. excavatum Koch, 1844, H. turanicum Pomerantsef, 1946, H. scupense Delpy, 1946, H. dromedarii Koch, 1844, H. schulzei Olenev, 1931, Rhipicephalus annulatus (Say, 1821), R. turanicus Pomerantsef & al., 1940 and R. leporis Pomerantsef, 1946 were recovered. Their distribution among hosts and infestation rates were di
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to survey and make to revision the genera and species of Chloropidae fauna of Iraq. The investigation showed four species belonging four genera, which belongs to two subfamilies, and one unidentified species belonging to the genus Elachiptera Maquart, The specimens were compared with stored insects at Department of Entomology and invertebrates, Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum.
A revision study of the Sphecidae from Iraq is presented. A survey is conducted to collect the specimens from different regions; generally, there were 41 species belonging to 12 genera and 4 subfamilies are revised with synonyms.
The current investigation included the species previously reported in Iraq, which were not collected during the current investigations; the distribution and other information are also provided.
A collection of 118 specimens of Iraqi phasianid birds belong to four species was examined
for haematozoa. Results show that 21.2% of them were infected with one or more of four
species of blood parasites; Haemoproteus danilewskyi, H. santosdiasi, Plasmodium sp. and
microfilaria. Haemoproteus danilewskyi is reported here for the first time in Iraq.