An African wild cat, Felis lybica was found dead on the road near Rondegat, Clanwilliam on 14 February 2011. It had been hit by a vehicle. The cat, a mature adult male, was in reasonable condition. The cause of death was trauma. There were no other macroscopic lesions on post mortem. Five adult ticks, identified as Rhipicentor nuttali, were found attached to the cat's neck - one engorged female, about 15 mm x 10 mm in size, one female that had not fed, one partially engorged female and two males.
An identifying feature of these ticks were paired hooks near the attachment of the front legs on the ventral aspect, and a single hook near the hind leg attachment .
The genus Rhipicentor has only two species worldwide, R. nuttali and R. bicornis and both occur only in Africa. R. nuttali is widespread in South Africa. Larvae and nymphs have only been found on elephant shrews. The Cape elephant shrew, Elephantulus edwardii occurs in the Clanwilliam district. Fourie et al found that nymphs were most numerous between March and Sept,and larvae between May and October. In the lab the life cycle takes about 214 days to complete. It is believed that in the field it is likely to take a year. Adults are mostly found on their preferred hosts: domestic dogs, leopards ( Panthera pardus) and South African hedgehogs, (Atelerix frontalis) in late summer.
These ticks have been seen (described) on dogs, cats, leopard, lion, hedgehogs, porcupines. Immatures are found on elephant shrew.
Dr. Gertrude Theiler found these ticks on dogs in the Clanwilliam district in 1962. They have not been described on Felis lybica before. They may cause paralysis in dogs.
Family Ixodidae. Resemble Dermacentor ticks.
References
Fourie LJ, Horak IG, Kok DJ, van Zyl W 2002 Hosts, seasonal ocurrence and life cycle of Rhipicentor nuttali (Acari:Ixodidae). Onderstepoort J Vet Res 69:177-87
Fourie LJ, Horak IG, Woodall PF 2005 Elephant shrews as hosts of immature ixodid ticks. Onderstepoort J vet Res 72:293-301
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