Molecular screening of ticks of the genus (Acari: Ixodidae) infesting South African reptiles with comments on their potential to act as vectors for (Dias, 1953) (Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae).

In South Africa, the role of reptilian ticks in the transmission of haemoparasites is lacking, in part, due to limited information on tick diversity and their associated haemoparasites. The aim of this research was to identify tick species parasitizing reptiles and to molecularly screen these ectoparasites for species of the blood apicomplexan genus . Samples were collected from Ndumo Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Cape Columbine region, Western Cape. Reptiles collected included 2 snakes, 2 monitor lizards of a single species respectively, as well as 17 tortoises of four species. Ticks collected from these were morphologically identified as (n = 2) and (n = 98), this identification was molecularly confirmed using 16S rRNA and CO1 genes. Screening for was done by amplifying the 18S rRNA gene. A species of , , was identified from ticks, with an overall prevalence of 10%. This species, has been described parasitizing tortoises from southern Africa, and has been reported from ticks infesting tortoises from Kenya, East Africa. Even though ticks have been suggested to be the likely vector of this species, with this supported by the findings of -like developmental stages in ticks collected off of infected tortoises, a recent systematic revision placed this species in a newly erected genus , a genus vectorised by biting insects. The present study thus provides further support for ticks acting as the potential vectors of .