Ticks of Trinidad and Tobago - an Overview

By Asoke Kumar Basu and Roxanne Charles

Ticks of Trinidad and Tobago: An Overview explores tick species prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), their distribution, associated pathogens, their effects on the host, and control methods. The book also reviews the basic biology of ticks.

Ticks are known to parasitize a wide range of hosts including mammals, reptiles and birds. These parasites are of veterinary and public health significance since they are responsible for the spread of a number of pathogens to humans and animals. Worldwide, ticks are responsible for billions of dollars in losses in the livestock industry annually due to the effects of these pathogens.

Based on review of the literature from more than five decades, twenty-three species of both hard and soft tick have been discovered on the twin-island republic with a greater number of species in Trinidad. Tick genera observed and recorded included Argas, Ornithodoros, Amblyomma, Dermacentor, Haemaphysalis, Ixodes, and Rhipicephalus species.

The tick species found in Trinidad and Tobago parasitize both wild and domestic species. Hosts include bats, fowl, equids, wild and domestic ruminants, birds, rodents, marsupials, and a variety of reptiles such as toads, tortoises, and snakes. Based on geographical location, most tick species discovered in T&T have also been recorded in other Caribbean islands in the archipelago, North, Central and South America. Both soft and hard tick species found in T&T have also been implicated in a number of blood-borne pathogens including Borrelia, Ehrlichia, Babesia, Hepatozoon, Rickettsia, and Anaplasma.

• Examines the biology of tick species on hosts endemic to Trinidad and Tobago
• Provides pictorial keys
• Facilitates identification, prevention, and control of tick-borne diseases in the tropical region
• Assists with diagnosing tick-borne diseases

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Jan 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9780128097519

Asoke Kumar Basu

Professor Asoke K Basu obtained his BVSc & AH degree in 1973 from University of Calcutta; MVSc (Veterinary Parasitology) in 1981 from BC Agricultural University; and was awarded PhD in 1988 from University of Kalyani, India. Over the years of his research career since 1978, he worked on different ectoparasites such as tsetse fly, ticks, lice, mites, nasal bot fly as well as endoparasites, primarily gastrointestinal helminths and blood parasite, Trypanosoma of animals in India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. While Professor Basu was engaged in bionomics of ticks and their control in the aforementioned countries, he has been presently working on biology of ticks prevalent in Trinidad & Tobago for last eight years at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. He has published more than sixty research papers in various journals.

Book preview

Ticks of Trinidad and Tobago—An Overview

Asoke K. Basu, MVSc, PhD

Professor in Veterinary Parasitology School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Roxanne A. Charles, DVM, MSc

Lecturer in Veterinary Parasitology School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. A General Account of Ticks

Abstract

Systematic Position

Characteristic Features of the Taxa

General Identification Characters of the Tick Genera Present in Trinidad and Tobago

Importance of Ticks

Site of Attachment on Hosts

Common Names of Ticks

General Morphology of Ticks

Habits and General Life History of Ticks

Feeding mechanism of Ticks

Seasonal Activity of Ticks

Methods of Tick Control

Collection and Preservation

Procedure for Egg Counting

Chapter 2. Ticks in the Caribbean Region

Abstract

Chapter 3. Tick Species Present in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Identification Characters, Distribution, Hosts, and Disease Transmission of Ticks of Trinidad and Tobago

Conclusion

References

Copyright

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Notices

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ISBN: 978-0-12-809744-1

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Foreword

Professor Clement K. Sankat, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

It is indeed a great privilege and honor for me as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine campus to write the foreword for this book as I continue to encourage academic excellence among the faculty and staff of our university. The UWI supports research and innovation by awarding grants to academic and research members of staff. A substantial amount of money is spent every year for this purpose as our university views quality of its academic output and service as a central pillar of its work.

This book, Ticks of Trinidad and Tobago: An Overview, is the first authoritative book on the ticks of this region. I consider this book, therefore, to possess significant academic and practical value. Indeed, ticks and tick-borne diseases are of economic importance worldwide because of their veterinary and public health significance. In fact, the prevalence and/or a lack of control of ticks in livestock and humans are responsible for billions of dollars in losses worldwide.

The authors have provided an in-depth review of all the available literature on ticks in Trinidad and Tobago for over 10 decades. Although ticks of Trinidad and Tobago are the focus of this book, general information on the morphology, identification, life cycle, and reproduction of ticks are included for the benefit of readers. This book will therefore serve as a useful guide to veterinary students, practitioners, researchers, zoologists, and lecturers of parasitology, not only in this region but also in other tropical areas. The book will be of great value in the diagnosis and control of ticks and tick-borne diseases.

The authors are highly qualified and experienced parasitologists. Professor A. Basu has over 30 years of teaching and research experience in Veterinary Parasitology in India, Africa, and the West Indies and has brought all this experience to bear in this book. I use this opportunity to congratulate the authors for an outstanding publication and a job well done. I am always delighted when my academic colleagues of UWI do nationally and regionally impacting work and share their knowledge and expertise with a wide audience. This publication therefore merits our accolades.

Preface

Ticks are very important parasites in animals and humans due to their blood-feeding activity and ability to transmit a number of pathogenic diseases to their affected hosts. These ectoparasites can be found in both tropical and temperate climates with preference for the former.

This book is intended to guide you, the reader (veterinary student, researcher, technician, veterinarian, biologist, ecologist, and persons in the medical field) on the tick species found in Trinidad and Tobago and in some cases, other parts of the Caribbean region as well as North, Central, and South America. This guide begins with a general account of hard and soft ticks including characteristic features of the taxon, their importance, general morphology, habits and general life cycles, methods of control, and their collection and preservation. The rest of this book deals with the 23 recorded tick species of Trinidad and Tobago. For each species mentioned, key aspects of their identification (including electron micrographs and line drawings), distribution, hosts, and disease transmission are emphasized.

It is the hope of the authors that this book be the go to guide for anyone wishing to identify ticks