University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Romania.
Department of Animal Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Miguel Servet, 177, 50013, Zaragoza, Spain.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2018 Mar;9(3):654-659. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.02.006. Epub 2018 Feb 17.
The tick subgenus Afrixodes Morel 1966 (Ixodidae) is distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. It consists of about 60 species which are described based on a few specimens and/or only some developmental stages, mostly adults. Because of this, the diagnosis of the African species of Ixodes is in many aspects complicated. Ixodes rasus Neumann 1899 is a common species, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaved forests in central Africa, whose morphology remains poorly described. We redescribe the adults of the species and provide molecular data for 16S rDNA based on three questing females and one male collected in the Central African Republic. Both sexes have an anal groove rounded and closed. The female has syncoxae on coxae I to III, a dental formula of 2/2, and long, curved auriculae. The male has moderate syncoxae on coxae I-III, coxae I-II carry one single internal spur each: coxae III and IV unarmed. The cornua are absent in the male, and the auriculae are small lobes. The male pregenital plate is longer than broad, with an anterior margin widely rounded; the median plate is large and clearly divergent posteriorly, with adanal plates fused posteriorly to the anus, and a dental formula of 4/4 (one row of 5/5). The molecular features of 16S rDNA place I. rasus near I. aulacodi (the only other Afrixodes species for which 16S rDNA is available) and near I. turdus and I. frontalis; two species of ticks of the Palearctic region, which commonly infest birds. The paucity of data regarding the subgenus Afrixodes makes it necessary to provide reliable and comparable re-descriptions of several species, as well as description of the immature stages for many of the currently known taxa.
蜱亚属 Afrixodes Morel 1966（硬蜱科）分布于撒哈拉以南非洲。它由大约 60 种组成，这些种是基于少数标本和/或仅一些发育阶段（主要是成虫）描述的。由于这个原因，非洲的硬蜱种的诊断在许多方面都很复杂。Ixodes rasus Neumann 1899 是一种常见的物种，广泛分布于中非热带和亚热带湿润阔叶林中，其形态描述仍然很差。我们重新描述了该物种的成虫，并提供了基于在中非共和国采集的三只采集雌性和一只雄性的 16S rDNA 分子数据。雌雄两性的肛沟均为圆形和封闭的。雌性的股节 I 到 III 上有并合的股节，齿式为 2/2，并有长而弯曲的耳状突。雄性的股节 I-III 上有中等大小的并合股节，股节 I 和 II 各有一个单独的内刺：股节 III 和 IV 无刺。雄性的角无，耳状突是小的叶状突。雄性的前生殖器盘长于宽，前缘广泛圆形；中生殖器盘大，向后明显发散，肛后附节板与肛门融合，齿式为 4/4（一行 5/5）。16S rDNA 的分子特征将 I. rasus 置于 I. aulacodi（唯一其他可用 16S rDNA 的 Afrixodes 种）和 I. turdus 和 I. frontalis 附近；这两种 ticks 是来自古北界的，它们通常寄生在鸟类身上。由于对 Afrixodes 亚属的数据很少，因此有必要对几个物种进行可靠和可比的重新描述，并对目前已知的许多分类群的幼虫期进行描述。
