Description of a new species of Ixodes Latreille, 1795 (Acari: Ixodidae), a parasite of rodents (Rodentia: Muridae) in Algeria.

Ixodes algericus n. sp. (Acari: Ixodidae) is described based on females, nymphs and larvae ex rodents (Rodentia: Muridae) from Algeria. Females of this new species possess a unique set of morphological characters allowing identification of this species from any other Ixodes Latreille, 1795 species. These characters include the lack of genital apron, length of auriculae, development of syncoxae and length of spurs on coxa I. The nymph and larva of I. algericus n. sp. can be distinguished from the potentially sympatric Ixodes s. str. species by the shape of the scutum, number of alloscutal setae, length of auriculae and shape of the hypostome.