Amblyomma ticks

Mofokeng, Lehlohonolo S., Smit, Nico J. & Cook, Courtney A., 2021, Molecular screening of ticks of the genus Amblyomma (Acari: Ixodidae) infesting South African reptiles with comments on their potential to act as vectors for Hepatozoon fitzsimonsi (Dias, 1953) (Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae), International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 16, pp. 163-167 : 164-165

3.1. Morphological analysis of Amblyomma ticks

Ninety-eight (98) adult ticks were identified as Amblyomma marmoreum and two (2) as Amblyomma latum based on their morphology. The A. marmoreum was found infesting tortoises (n = 5 from the Cape, n = 9 from Ndumo), as well as two monitor lizards (both Varanus albigularis ) from Ndumo, while A. latum was found on one of the two snakes (both Naja mossombica ) ( Table 1). The characteristics of the adult

Number of ticks collected from hosts is indicated next to each host.

164

A. latum and adult A. marmoreum are as described by Theiler (1945) and Theiler and Salisbury (1959), respectively ( Fig. 1 ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Maximum likelihood analysis of Amblyomma tick species based on the 16S rRNA sequences. Bootstrap values at the major nodes are of percentage agreement among 1000 replicates. The branch scale represents substitutions per site.