Acaricide resistance in the red tick, Rhipicephalus evertsi Neumann.

Extract

Early in 1959, observations on the farm Tayside, in the East London district of South Africa, suggested that populations of the ‘two-host’ red tick, Rhipicephalns evertsi Neum., were more difficult to control with toxaphene preparations than they had been in the past. Resistance to toxaphene was suspected, and both field and laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate this possibility. Field trials indicated an increase in tolerance by Tayside populations of the tick to toxaphene, γ BHC and dieldrin, but showed no increased tolerance to sodium arsenite or DDT. Similar results were obtained in laboratory experiments where Tayside adults were compared with those of other populations of the tick known to be sensitive to insecticides. Laboratory experiments with larvae indicated a high degree of resistance to toxaphene and γ BHC in the Tayside population, but no increased tolerance to sodium arsenite, Delnav, Sevin or DDT could be detected. This pattern of cross-resistance is similar to that occurring in resistant populations of Boophilus dccoloratus(Koch).