Description of a new Ornithodoros ( Pavlovskyella ) (Ixodida: Argasidae) tick species from Pakistan

• Published in: Parasitology pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Ali, Abid, Khan, Mehran, Numan, Muhammad, Alouffi, Abdulaziz, Almutairi, Mashal M, Pienaar, Ronel, de Castro, Minique H, Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia, Muñoz-Leal, Sebastián, Mans, Ben J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Cambridge University Press 02-10-2024
• Subjects: Argasidae; mitogenome; Ornithodoros; Pakistan; Pavlovskyella; Pakistan; Argasidae; Pavlovskyella; mitogenome; Ornithodoros
• ISSN: 0031-1820; 1469-8161; 1469-8161
• DOI: 10.1017/S0031182024000982

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
.