The male, female, nymph, and larva of Haemaphysalis (Rhipistoma) norvali sp. n., are described and compared with other members of the H. (R.) spinulosa group. Adult H. (R.) norvali parasitize the southern African hedgehog, Erinaceus frontalis Smith, in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. Immatures were reared on a laboratory rabbit.

The present investigation succeeded in following up the life cycle of Philophthalamus species cercaria emerged from Cleopatra bulimoides snail till production of adult worm Philophthalamus species. This adult worm was extracted from the nictitating membrane of the eyes after 35 days post oral infection of one-day old ducks by metacercaria of Philophthalamus species. The worm Philophthalamus species have a mean length of 4.365mm. The most interesting result of the present study is the success in obtaining Philophthalamus species adult worm. Moreover Philophthalamus cercaria was described for the first time from snails collected from Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt

Rhipicephalus kochi, synonymy, description of female, male, nymph, and larva, scanning electron microscopy, brief report of laboratory life cycle study, review of host records and zoogeography in Africa, differentiation from R. pravus, R. punctatus, and R. appendiculatus

Dirofilaria immitis, dogs (exper.), location, growth, and time required for larvae to molt and develop

Rhipicephalus zambeziensis n. sp., all stages of life cycle compared with life cycle of R. appendiculatus, redescription of R. appendiculatus, attempts to cross breed these 2 species in laboratory were unsuccessful thus validating their taxonomic separation, the 2 species can live sympatrically

Morphometrical analysis of chicken Crytosporidium baileyi in various stages of life cycle in the bursa of Fabricius wer carried out by electron microscope to establish a differential point for identification of C baileyi. By avidin-biotin complex method, protozoans of the bursa of Favricius were identified Cryptosporidium spp. The size and area on each developmental stages of C baileyi, as measured by Morphomat 10 attached to electron microscope were as follews. Trophozoites' size with range of 3.21+_0.70*2.49+_0.59 micro meter, area with range of 118. 82+_41.92 micro meter2; meronts' size with 3.99+_1.07*2.96+_0.52 micro meter, area 210.11+_57.11 micro meter2 ; merozoites' size 1.98+_0.43*0.60+_0.18 micro meter, area 24.10+_5.97 micro meter2; microgametes' size 1.36+_0.83*0.50+_0.23 micro meter, area 20.23+_6.73 micro meter2; macrogametes'size 4.57+_0.65*4.02+_0.55 micro meter, area 258.37+_51.83 micro meter2; oocytes' size 4.39+_0.56*3.44+_0.50 micro meter, area 187.21 +_62.68 micro meter2. In conclusion, the size and area on each developmental stages of Cryptosporidium baileyi is different from that of other Cryptosporidia spp. It suggests, with considering tissue tropism and life cycle, morphometrical analysis can be quite a good way to identify C baileyi.

Ixodes persulcatus Schulze (I. persulcatus) is distributed in Russia and Far East Asia including Japan, and has been implicated as the vector of several human pathogens. In particular, I. persulcatus acts as the only tick vector for human lyme borreliosis in Japan. In order to elucidate the mechanism of transmission of I. persulcatus-borne pathogens, we developed a laboratory colony of I. persulcatus. Ticks were fed on Syrian hamster and engorged ticks that had dropped off the animals were collected and maintained to allow them to molt. Tick rearing was performed in incubator at 20degC with 95% relative humidity and 12-hour light/dark photo-period regimen. We found out that adult females fed for 8+-2 days and had a pre-oviposition period lasting for 7+-2 days. The minimum egg incubation period was 1 month with the hatched larvae feeding for 3+-1 days and molting to nymphs 3-4 months thereafter. Meanwhile, the nymphs fed for 4+-1 days and molted to adult 2-3 months thereafter. For future analysis of gene expression profiles in I. persulcatus, we cloned and sequenced the actin gene (a housekeeping gene), and found that it is 92.7% to 98.6% homologous to the published sequences of related ixodid ticks. This laboratory colony of I. persulcatus will facilitate investigations on the role of tick-derived molecules on the transmission of I. persulcatus-borne pathogens and will be important for identification of potential anti-tick vaccine and acaricide target molecules.