Southern Cattle Tick

The southern cattle tick (Rhipicephalus microplus) is a hard tick in the family Ixodidae that parasitizes cattle and other livestock and wild mammals, and it is considered the most economically significant ectoparasite in the world. Native to tropical forests of the Indian subcontinent, it has spread through cattle movement to occur between about 32 degrees north and south latitude across Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The tick is small and teardrop shaped, with a hardened scutum covering its head, eight cream colored legs, and a body that darkens with age, plus a distinctive hexagonal base on its mouthpart. It transmits the parasites that cause bovine babesiosis, described as the most economically important arthropod borne illness in cattle, with roughly 80 percent of cattle in Brazil affected.