Like other ticks formerly placed in the genus Boophilus, Rhipicephalus microplus has short mouthparts and a 1-host life cycle. Development from unfed larva to engorged female on a cattle host takes around three weeks. In much of the world, R. microplus is a major pest of cattle. In addition to their more direct negative impacts on their hosts, in many regions these ticks are vectors for babesioses and anaplasmosis. This species is native to Southeast Asia, but has spread throughout the tropics, including Australia, East and Southern Africa, and South and Central America. (Jongejan and Uilenberg 2004)
The Asian blue tick (Rhipicephalus microplus) is an economically important tick that parasitises a variety of livestock species[1] especially cattle, on which it is the most economically significant ectoparasite in the world.[2] It is known as the Australian cattle tick, southern cattle tick, Cuban tick, Madagascar blue tick, and Porto Rican Texas fever tick.[3]
It has been recorded on "cattle, buffalo, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, deer, pigs, dogs, buffalo and some wild animals".[1]
Nearly a cosmopolitan species, Asian blue tick is found in Costa Rica, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Argentina, 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 (U.S.), Zambia and Zimbabwe.[4]
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.[5]
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.[1]
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.[6]
It has a one-host lifecycle.
Acaricides and pyrethroids are commonly used however this has led to the development of acaricide and pyrethroid resistance.[2] Acaricide resistance in R. microplus is mediated by para sodium channel mutants.[2] Such alleles can be rapidly detected in a border livestock inspection by PCR High Resolution Melt testing.[2] This is especially useful on the United States-Mexico border where the US has almost eradicated R. microplus, but Mexico has a high prevalence and a high prevalence of acaricide resistance.[2] This technique could also be applied in other countries where pyrethroid resistance R. microplus is a common problem.[2]
Some populations of R. microplus have developed resistance to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. The search for the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) mutations responsible has been stymied because, although there are only three AChEs in this genome, all three have a high copy number. Progress has been made by Bellgard et al 2012, Temeyer et al 2012, and Bendele et al 2015 toward identifying resistance alleles.[7]
The Asian blue tick (Rhipicephalus microplus) is an economically important tick that parasitises a variety of livestock species especially cattle, on which it is the most economically significant ectoparasite in the world. It is known as the Australian cattle tick, southern cattle tick, Cuban tick, Madagascar blue tick, and Porto Rican Texas fever tick.
