Ixodes occultus Pomerantsev, 1946

Fedorov, Denis & Hornok, Sándor, 2024, Checklist of hosts, illustrated geographical range, and ecology of tick species from the genus Ixodes (Acari, Ixodidae) in Russia and other post-Soviet countries, ZooKeys 1201, pp. 255-343 : 255-343

Ixodes occultus Pomerantsev, 1946

Recorded hosts.

Mammalia: Crocidura suaveolens (lesser white-toothed shrew), Diplomesodon pulchellum (Lichtenstein) (piebald shrew), Meriones libycus Lichtenstein (Libyan jird), Meriones meridianus (midday jird), Meriones persicus (Persian jird), Mustela nivalis (least weasel), Nothocricetulus migratorius (grey dwarf hamster), Rhombomys opimus (Lichtenstein) (great gerbil), Spermophilopsis leptodactylus (Lichtenstein) (long-clawed ground squirrel), Vormela peregusna (marbled polecat) ( Filippova 1977).

Reptilia: Gloydius halys (Pallas) (Halys pit viper) ( Filippova 1977).

Recorded locations

(Fig. 12 ). Kazakhstan: Mangystau Region – the Mangyshlak Peninsula ( Kaluzhenkova et al. 1961) and the Ustyurt Plateau; Kyzylorda Region ( Filippova 1958 a; Loseva 1963; Maslennikova and Ushakova 1971), Jambyl Region – the Moiynkum Desert ( Maslennikova and Ushakova 1971), Almaty Region – the foothills of the Dzungarian Alatau: the Sholak and Katutau mountains, the deserts Taukum and Saryesik-Atyrau ( Ushakova 1960; Maslennikova et al. 1964; Ushakova et al. 1976). Turkmenistan: distributed everywhere – the southern Ustyurt, the Octumkumy Desert, the Üňüzaňyrsy and Türkmenbaşy Plateau, the Meshed and Saynaksan Desert, the Karakum Desert ( Pomerantsev 1950; Kerbabaev 1961; Kochkareva et al. 1971); Hojagala ( Berdyev and Annaev 1997). Uzbekistan: the Pistalitau Ridge and the rural locality Tashrabat ( Maslennikova and Ushakova 1971).

Ecology and other information.

Ixodes occultus is a tick species inhabiting deserts. It is mainly a nidicolous parasite of gerbils and jirds (subfamily Gerbillinae ), first of all, the great gerbil, as well as of those small mammals which also use long and deep burrows of great gerbils as shelters ( Filippova 1977). Some predators which have strong trophic relationships with gerbils and regularly contact with their colonies act as secondary hosts for this tick species.

The type specimen of I. occultus is deposited at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and includes the holotype: male; Turkmenia, Repetek, Rhombomys opimus , 5. 10. 1937, coll. B. I. Pomerantsev, type; AL I 550. Description – Filippova 1977: 365–371 (female, male, nymph, larva) ( Filippova 2008).

Figures

Figure 12. Map of Russia and neighboring countries showing the locations where Ixodes occultus was reported.