Alarming spread of the Asian cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus in West Africa-another three countries are affected: Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo

The cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is known for its invasive character and fast displacement of other species of the same subgenus. The most striking invasions were the ones observed in Ivory Coast (Madder et al. 2007, 2011) and Benin (Madder et al. 2012; De Clercq et al. 2012). Several years after being introduced through importation of exotic Brazilian cattle, R. microplus replaced local blue ticks and most importantly did not respond to the acaricide treatment becoming thus for farmers and veterinary services an uncontrollable ectoparasite affecting animal production in general, apart from being an efficient vector of Babesia bovis. Soon after its discovery in West Africa, several projects were initiated to address the issue. The TickRisk project (assessing ecological suitability for the spread of R. microplus in West Africa) (2011–2013) was implemented in Benin to determine the current spread of this species and develop habitat suitability maps of the region while the WECATiC project (assessment of emerging livestock ticks and tickborne disease threats and integrated control strategies in West and Central Africa) (2011–2014) encompasses Benin, Burkina