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

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 .