Description of a New () (Ixodida: Argasidae) Tick Species from Pakistan

Overview

Journal Parasitology

Specialty Parasitology

Date 2024 Oct 2

PMID 39355937

Authors

Abid Ali

Mehran Khan

Muhammad Numan

Abdulaziz Alouffi

Mashal M Almutairi

Ronel Pienaar

Minique H de Castro

Lidia Chitimia-Dobler

Sebastian Munoz-Leal

Ben J Mans

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The genus is notably diverse within the family Argasidae, comprising approximately 134 species distributed among 4 subgenera, 1 of which is the subgenus . In an earlier study, we identified distinct soft ticks as () sp., which were collected from animal shelters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Providing additional collections from that same locality and a comprehensive analysis involving detailed morphological and mitogenome-based comparisons with closely related species, this study formally designates a novel species for these specimens. Adults and late-instar nymphs of the new species display a dorsoventral groove, small cheeks not covering the capitulum, 5 small even humps on tarsus I and a transverse postanal groove intersecting the median postanal groove perpendicularly. It also lacks a tuft of setae on the ventral surface of the hood which separates the novel species from . Ventral chaetotaxy of tarsus IV indicates 4–7 setal pairs in nymphs and 5–7 pairs in adults that separate the new species from sensu stricto and , 2 morphologically closely related species that occur in geographical proximity. Phylogenetic analyses of the full-length mitochondrial genome and the 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA genes, combined with pairwise nucleotide comparisons of , , , , , , , , , , , , , 12S rDNA, 16S rDNA, 18S rDNA and 28S rDNA further support that the new species belongs to the subgenus, clustering with , and .

Citing Articles

Editorial: ticks & tick-borne parasites and diseases.

Tabor A Parasitology. 2024; 151(9):885-890.

PMID: 39581687 PMC: 11770510. DOI: 10.1017/S0031182024001549.

References

Tamura K, Nei M, Kumar S . Prospects for inferring very large phylogenies by using the neighbor-joining method. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004; 101(30):11030-5. PMC: 491989. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0404206101. View

Tila H, Khan M, Almutairi M, Alouffi A, Ahmed H, Tanaka T . First report on detection of in and in and : risks of spillover of spp. from wildlife to domestic animals. Front Vet Sci. 2023; 10:1255482. PMC: 10544907. DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1255482. View

Mans B . Paradigms in tick evolution. Trends Parasitol. 2023; 39(6):475-486. DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2023.03.011. View

Mans B, De Klerk D, Pienaar R, de Castro M, Latif A . Next-generation sequencing as means to retrieve tick systematic markers, with the focus on Nuttalliella namaqua (Ixodoidea: Nuttalliellidae). Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2015; 6(4):450-62. DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2015.03.013. View

Vial L, Ducheyne E, Filatov S, Gerilovych A, McVey D, Sindryakova I . Spatial multi-criteria decision analysis for modelling suitable habitats of Ornithodoros soft ticks in the Western Palearctic region. Vet Parasitol. 2017; 249:2-16. DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2017.10.022. View

Bernt M, Donath A, Juhling F, Externbrink F, Florentz C, Fritzsch G . MITOS: improved de novo metazoan mitochondrial genome annotation. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012; 69(2):313-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.08.023. View

Munoz-Leal S, Venzal J, Kneubehl A, Lopez J, Martins T, Labruna M . Description of a new Pavlovskyella species (Acari: Argasidae) from Chile. J Med Entomol. 2023; 60(5):968-977. PMC: 10496437. DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjad091. View

HOOGSTRAAL H, KOHLS G . Argas (Microargas) transversus banks (New Subgenus) (Ixodoidea, Argasidae), a diminutive parasite of the galapagos giant tortoise: redescription of the holotype male and description of the larva. Ann Entomol Soc Am. 1966; 59(2):247-52. DOI: 10.1093/aesa/59.2.247. View

Lewis P . NCL: a C++ class library for interpreting data files in NEXUS format. Bioinformatics. 2003; 19(17):2330-1. DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btg319. View

10.

HOOGSTRAAL H . Argasid and nuttalliellid ticks as parasites and vectors. Adv Parasitol. 1985; 24:135-238. DOI: 10.1016/s0065-308x(08)60563-1. View

11.

Dietrich M, Gomez-Diaz E, McCoy K . Worldwide distribution and diversity of seabird ticks: implications for the ecology and epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2010; 11(5):453-70. DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2010.0009. View

12.

Carnero-Moran A, Oleaga A, Cano-Arguelles A, Perez-Sanchez R . Function-guided selection of salivary antigens from Ornithodoros erraticus argasid ticks and assessment of their protective efficacy in rabbits. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2023; 14(6):102218. DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102218. View

13.

Mans B, Kelava S, Pienaar R, Featherston J, de Castro M, Quetglas J . Nuclear (18S-28S rRNA) and mitochondrial genome markers of Carios (Carios) vespertilionis (Argasidae) support Carios Latreille, 1796 as a lineage embedded in the Ornithodorinae: re-classification of the Carios sensu Klompen and Oliver (1993) clade.... Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2021; 12(4):101688. DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101688. View

14.

Vial L . Biological and ecological characteristics of soft ticks (Ixodida: Argasidae) and their impact for predicting tick and associated disease distribution. Parasite. 2009; 16(3):191-202. DOI: 10.1051/parasite/2009163191. View

15.

Desportes C, CAMPANA Y . On Ornithodorus tholozani and on ornithodores from Central and Minor Asia. Ann Parasitol Hum Comp. 2010; 21(1-2):74-88. View

16.

Karim S, Budachetri K, Mukherjee N, Williams J, Kausar A, Hassan M . A study of ticks and tick-borne livestock pathogens in Pakistan. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017; 11(6):e0005681. PMC: 5501686. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005681. View

17.

Mans B, Featherston J, Kvas M, Pillay K, de Klerk D, Pienaar R . Argasid and ixodid systematics: Implications for soft tick evolution and systematics, with a new argasid species list. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2018; 10(1):219-240. DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.09.010. View

18.

Ali A, Khan M, Alouffi A, Almutairi M, Paguem A, Chitimia-Dobler L . Description of a new tick species, closely related to Amblyomma javanense (Supino, 1897), associated with Varanus bengalensis (Squamata: Varanidae) in Pakistan. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2024; 15(6):102361. DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2024.102361. View

19.

Labruna M, Terassini F, Camargo L, Brandao P, Ribeiro A, Estrada-Pena A . New reports of Antricola guglielmonei and Antricola delacruzi in Brazil, and a description of a new argasid species (Acari). J Parasitol. 2008; 94(4):788-92. DOI: 10.1645/GE-1447.1. View

20.

Mans B, De Klerk D, Pienaar R, de Castro M, Latif A . The mitochondrial genomes of Nuttalliella namaqua (Ixodoidea: Nuttalliellidae) and Argas africolumbae (Ixodoidae: Argasidae): estimation of divergence dates for the major tick lineages and reconstruction of ancestral blood-feeding characters. PLoS One. 2012; 7(11):e49461. PMC: 3493528. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049461. View