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Veterinary Medicine and ScienceZoologyPeer-reviewed journal article

The Prevalence and Identification of Livestock Tick by Sex Ratio and Host in Tehran Province

Ebrahim AbbasiiD

PDFDOIPreprint

In-depth summary

Claude Opus 5.5 · xhigh effort · 8 Nov 2026 · from the full text of version 1 (14 Mar 2025) · CC BY 4.0

In a 2019 survey of 1623 animals in 20 Tehran Province villages, 685 hard and 121 soft ticks were collected; females predominated (57.99%) and sheep yielded most ticks (60.04%).

The author argues that tick sex ratio can shape the epidemiology of vector-borne disease, and that knowing which tick species and sexes occur on which hosts gives a practical basis for tick control. Earlier Iranian work cited includes a survey of equid ticks in West Azerbaijan in which 85.48% were male; this survey covers camels, sheep, cattle, dogs, chickens and pigeons in Tehran Province.

Key results

  1. ShownMore of the collected ticks were female than male, both across all ticks and within the hard ticks alone.

    All ticks: 42.01% male vs 57.99% female (soft ticks reported as 15.01% of the catch). Hard ticks (n = 685): 304 male (44.37%) vs 381 female (55.62%). · Abstract; Identification and Distribution of Livestock…

  2. ShownSheep yielded by far the largest share of ticks and cattle the smallest. The author links this to how many animals of each host type were sampled.

    Sheep accounted for 60.04% of infestations and cattle for 0.62%. The author attributes this to sheep being the most-studied livestock. A cited Ghaemshahr study reported 28.3% in sheep and 20% in cattle. · Abstract; Identifying and Determining the Distribution of…; Discussion

  3. ShownTick genera split clearly by host. Hard-tick genera were found on mammals, and soft ticks only on poultry or enclosure walls.

    Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) was found only on cattle, and Haemaphysalis on sheep and goats. 'Ripisfalus' (as spelled) and Hyalomma were on all hosts except pigeons and chickens, and absent from the corral wall. Argas came from pigeons and chickens; Ornithodoros (O. lahorensis) only from walls. No soft ticks were found on cattle, sheep, goats, camels or dogs. · Identifying and Determining the Distribution of…

  4. ShownR. sanguineus sensu lato was the main species on sheep, goats and dogs. Hyalomma marginatum led on camels, and each poultry host carried its own Argas species.

    Sheep: R. sanguineus s.l. 242 specimens (highest) vs R. bursa 5 (lowest). Dogs: only R. sanguineus s.l. (19). Goats: R. sanguineus s.l. most abundant. Camels: Hy. marginatum most frequent, R. sanguineus s.l. least. Cattle: small numbers of Hy. marginatum and B. annulatus. Pigeons: only A. reflexus. Chickens: A. persicus abundant. · Identifying and Determining the Distribution of…; Discussion

  5. SuggestedAmong hard-tick species, R. sanguineus sensu lato had the highest sex ratio in both mountainous and plain areas.

    This is stated in the abstract and results. Figure 1 shows the sex distribution of hard ticks by environment, but its legend does not say it breaks this down by species. The text gives no per-species counts or ratio values, and does not say which way the ratio is defined. · Abstract; Identification and Distribution of Livestock…; Figure legends

Methods, data and reproducibility

A descriptive cross-sectional field survey. Ticks were removed from body sites (earlobes, groin, tail base, abdomen) of domestic animals, and from enclosure walls, in 20 villages across four seasons of 2019. They were then sexed and identified to species under a stereomicroscope using regional and global morphological keys. Sample size came from a proportion formula (d = 0.045, p = 0.3).

  • Hard ticks collected from domestic animals in 20 villages of Tehran Province over four seasons of 2019 · hard ticks (Ixodidae), several genera · n = 685
  • Soft ticks collected from poultry and from cage/corral walls in the same survey · soft ticks (Argasidae): Argas, Ornithodoros · n = 121
  • Domestic animals (livestock, dogs, poultry) examined for tick infestation · camels, sheep, cattle, dogs, chickens, pigeons (goats also appear in results) · n = 1623
Methods & tools
stereomicroscope, morphological identification keys
Reproducibility gaps
No code. The data statement says all data are included in the published article, with no repository or accession. The contents of Table 1 are not in the available text.
Limitations (4)
  • Host shares reflect sampling effort. The author attributes the highest share in sheep (60.04%) and the lowest in cattle (0.62%) to sheep being the most-studied host and to fewer cattle being included. · stated by the authors
  • The causes of the sex-ratio differences across species and hosts are left open. The author notes that survival data from natural conditions are missing for almost all tick genera, and that such data are needed to explain general patterns. · stated by the authors
  • The text gives no count of each host type examined, no per-species male/female counts and no statistical tests. Per-animal prevalence and the R. sanguineus sex-ratio claim therefore cannot be checked. The survey covers a single province in a single year (2019). · noted in this summary
  • The reporting is inconsistent. Goats appear among the hosts in the results but not among the six stated host types. Ornithodoros is placed on a cage wall in one sentence, and O. lahorensis on a corral wall in another. · noted in this summary

Read this if you need baseline records of which hard and soft tick species, and which sexes, occur on livestock, dogs and poultry in Tehran Province, Iran, for tick-borne disease surveillance or control planning.

Citations
13
FWCI
11.53
Field percentile
top 1%

Abstract

Ticks are one of the most dominant forced ectoparasites of vertebrates, belonging to the arthropods, which transmit pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites to humans and animals in Iran and worldwide. Given that sex ratio factors can affect the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, this study aimed to identify and determine the ticks sex ratio and host type (camels, sheep, cattle, dogs, chickens, and pigeons) in different areas of Tehran Province. This descriptive cross-sectional study took samples from different parts of the animals body in four seasons from 20 villages in 2019, in which 685 hard ticks and 121 soft ticks were caught from 1623 studied livestock and poultry. Regarding sex segregation among all caught ticks, 42.01% were male, and 57.99% were female. It is noteworthy that in both mountain and plain environments, R. sanguineus sensu lato species of hard ticks had the most elevated sex ratio. Most ticks were collected from sheep hosts, accounting for 60.04% of infestations, while the lowest infestation rate was found in cattle hosts at 0.62%.

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