干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Algeria is the second large country of Africa where the presence of the ticks is massive but their study remains still at his beginning. The country presents two important geographical sets: chains of the Mount Atlas in North and the large desert Sahara in the South (1). Between the mountainous solid masses exist the plain of Mitidja which goes down towards the Mediterranean Sea. The climate is Mediterranean with hot and dry summers and soft and wet winters. The plain is characterized by muddy grounds interfered stones or sbl-oargillaceous sometimes deep which allows the development of agriculture and the breeding of the animals in pastoral system free thing for which that is not with the shelter of the diseases (2). The study carried out in 13 localities of the plain with shown the presence of the Ixodidae ticks on the vegetation, tortoises, dogs and livestock: sheep, bovines, goats which cross the plain. The ticks are present on the ground of May until September. The animals most reached are the sheep and then the goats ones and little reached remain the bovine ones. This strong attack of the ticks on the sheep is explained by their great presence on the ground, it is them which graze freely on the ground throughout the year as well as the goats ones. The bovines are very few and pass a great part of time in the shelters. The species of the Ixodidae tick most present on the ground as on the animals is the Rhipicephalus species followed by Hyalomma. On the other hand the species Dermacentor and Ixodes are far from present since they prefer an altitude which exceeds 600 m and a fresher and wetter climate where the population is far from present.