Rhipicephalus muehlensi Zumpt, 1943

Guglielmone, Alberto A., Nava, Santiago & Robbins, Richard G., 2023, Geographic distribution of the hard ticks (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae) of the world by countries and territories, Zootaxa 5251 (1), pp. 1-274 : 124

52. Rhipicephalus muehlensi Zumpt, 1943 .

Afrotropical: 1) Eswatini, 2) Kenya, 3) Mozambique, 4) Somalia, 5) South Africa, 6) Tanzania ( Yeoman & Walker 1967, Walker 1974, Walker et al. 2000, Kolonin 2009, Horak et al. 2018, Ledger et al. 2021, Olivieri et al. 2021).

Rhipicephalus muehlensi was confused with Rhipicephalus appendiculatus , Rhipicephalus kochi , Rhipicephalus longicoxatus and Rhipicephalus masseyi prior to its description by Zumpt (1943) ( Walker et al. 2000, Horak et al. 2018).

The geographic distribution of Rhipicephalus muehlensi is chiefly based on Walker et al. (2000) and Horak et al. (2018), whose range statement differs from that provided by Burridge (2011), who includes Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, specimens of Rhipicephalus muehlensi from Sudan have been found to represent other species, while records from the countries listed in Burridge (2011) are unconfirmed ( Walker et al. 2000). Pegram et al. (1986, as Rhipicephalus muhlensi , a lapsus) and Tandon (1991) recorded Rhipicephalus muehlensi from Zambia, but the latter author believed that this tick is not established there. Uilenberg et al. (2013) listed as “convincing” a record of a male of Rhipicephalus muehlensi collected in the Central African Republic, but we feel that this record requires confirmation. None of the countries named in this paragraph are thought to be within the range of Rhipicephalus muehlensi .