Genus Rhipicephalus

Analysis of the geographic distribution of the species of Rhipicephalus is extremely difficult because the diagnoses of several species are, at minimum, controversial, including a number of important species that have not been adequately defined morphologically and molecularly. The seminal study of Walker et al. (2000), who analyzed the genus Rhipicephalus worldwide, has been of great help in understanding the taxonomy of this genus, but inherent difficulties remain, and these continue to cloud our understanding of particular species’ geographic ranges, many of which are here considered provisional.