Scholarly Journal of Biological Science Vol. 4(5), pp.47-48, December 2015 Available online http:// www.scholarly-journals ISSN 2315-6147 © 2015 Scholarly-Journals Short Comm. Ectoparasite Species of Ceremonial and Racing Horses from Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria. Mohammed, A.A.* 1 and Lawal, M.D. 2 1,2 Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria Accepted 10 December, 2015 Between August 2015 to August 2017, a survey on the ectoparasites of horses was conducted in Sokoto North-westhern Nigeria. A total of 611 horses were examined and Ten (10) Taxa of ectoparasites were identified. Hyalommatruncatum78(12.7%),Hyalommadromedarii72(13.4%),Hippoboscaequine 69(11.29%) Musca domestica 67(10.9%), Tabanus longicornis 62(10.4%) Stomoxys calcitrans 60 (9.81%), Amblyomma variegatum 58(9.49%), Rhipicephalus averts 52(8.51%), Rhipicephalus sanguineous 50(8.18%) and Hematopinusasini43(7.0%).It was observed that infestations with these ectoparasites were significantly high for disease transmission and nuisance. Keywords: Ectoparasites, Racing Horse, Disease transmission, Tabanus longicornis, Stomoxys calcitrans . INTRODUCTION Horses are popular beasts of burden they are used for ceremonies and for racing amongst animal keepers in the Sahel savannah and regions of Northern Nigeria. However, many ectoparasites attack horses which belong to taxonomic orders Dipteral, Siphonaptera, Pthiraptera and Acarina(Soulsby,1986)They serve as not only ectoparasites, but vectors of rickettsial, Protozoan, Bacterial and Viral agents in man, Companion and Domestic animals. They also inflict notable dermatitis, damage to hides and skin with attendant economic losses (Ahmed and George, 2003). Most of the studies conducted on domestic animals have been largely on cattle, (Mohammed, 1974), Dogs and cats (Richard and David, 2001), Swine (Odo et al., 2016) and Poultry (Fabiyi et al., 2013).Studies regarding ectoparasitic arthropods of Horses, have been confined almost entirely to the South Western part of Nigeria(Adeyefa and Dipeolu,1986) and Northern Nigeria (David et al.,2012).To date, only scanty information is available on equine ectoparasites as such study has not been hither-to chronicled in the study area. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area: Sokoto State lies within the Sudan savannah region in the North-western part of Nigeria. It is located between Latitude 4 o to 6 o North, longitude11 o 3 to 13 o 50 East. It is bordered the North by Niger republic, South by Zamfara State and West by Kebbi State. It has a total land area of 25,648 square kilometers(Adelana et al.,2003) and with a population of about3,696,99(NPC,2006). Sample collection A total of 611 horses were examined for the presence of hemoparasites which comprised mainly of ceremonial and racing horses.The presence of ticks was confirmed by passing the palm of the handover the body. Where the ticks were present, they were picked with thumb forceps and preserved in universal bottles into which 70% ethanol and 5%glycerine was added. Lice and fleas were collected by combing with a tooth comb onto a sheet of paper. Mites were collected following deep skin scrapings until blood oozed out. Ectoparasites thus collected were mounted onto Petri dishes and identified with a Stereomicroscope (X 20 magnification).Deep skin scrapings were examined by adding 10% potassium hydroxide. Identification of ectoparasites to species level was according to the guide by Hoogstraal (1956) and Walker et al.,(2003). RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Ten(10) taxa of ectoparasites were identified. All the