A new species of Ornithodoros (Acari: Argasidae), parasite of Microlophus spp. (Reptilia: Tropiduridae) from northern Chile

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2012.10.038
• Publication Date: 2012-12-05T19:39:00Z
• Authors: José M. Venzal; Santiago Nava; Daniel González-A...; Atilio J. Mangold; Sebastián Muñoz-Leal; Paula Lado; Alberto A. Guglie...
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Reptiles; Tick Infestations; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Species Specificity; Ornithodoros Microlophi Sp. N.; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.3; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Animals; Argasidae; Tropiduridae; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4; Chile; Ornithodoros; Phylogeny; Microlophus Spp.

A new species, Ornithodoros microlophi (Acari: Argasidae), belonging to the subgenus Alectorobius is described from larvae collected on the lizards Microlophus atacamensis (Donoso-Barros, 1966) and Microlophus quadrivittatus (Tschudi, 1845) (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in continental and insular localities from northern Chile. Larvae of O. microlophi can be distinguished from other Neotropical species of the genus Ornithodoros by a combination of the following characters, namely 10 pairs of ventral setae, venter with 6 pairs of sternal setae, dorsal plate pyriform, 19-21 pairs of dorsal setae (typically 20), 13 pairs are dorsolateral and 7 pairs are central, and hypostome with dental formula 4/4 in medial portion and apex pointed. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences suggests that O. microlophi represents an independent lineage within Neotropical species of the Argasidae.