Description of three new bat-associated species of hard ticks (Acari, Ixodidae) from Japan

By

Ai, Takano
Yamauchi, Takeo
Zhong hua jiao yu wen hua ji jin dong shi hui bian yi wei yuan hui 中华教育文化基金董事会编译委员会
Shimoda, Hiroshi
Gotoh, Yasuhiro
Mizuno, Junko
Natsume, Michio
Kontschán, Jenõ
Kováts, Dávid
Vuong Tan, Tu
Hornok, Sándor

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1180

Pages

1--26

Subjects

16S rRNA gene , Chiroptera , Eschatocephalus , Ixodida , long-legged bat tick , mitochondrial

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1180.108418

 

Abstract

In Eurasia, the geographically most widespread ixodid tick species of the bat families Rhinolophidae Gray, Vespertilionidae Gray, and Miniopteridae Dobson were considered to belong to four species, Ixodes vespertilionis Koch, I. collaris Hornok, I. ariadnae Hornok, and I. simplex Neumann. Previous data attest that bat-associated tick species from Eastern Asia show remarkable genetic difference from the above four tick species, but in the absence of detailed morphological comparison these were regarded as conspecific. In this study we compensate for this lack of data on three bat-associated tick species, reporting their morphological comparison, as well as molecular and phylogenetic relationships. According to the results we describe the females of three tick species new to science, i.e., I. nipponrhinolophi Hornok & Takano, sp. nov., I. fuliginosus Hornok & Takano, sp. nov., and I. fujitai Hornok & Takano, sp. nov. In case of all three new tick species the cytochrome c oxidase subunit (coxI) gene showed remarkably high sequence differences from the species that they previously were thought to belong to, well exceeding the average limit delineating ixodid tick species. This, as well as observed morphological differences fully justify their taxonomical status as new species.