Amblyomma maculatum Koch, 1844a

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 : 53-54

74. Amblyomma maculatum Koch, 1844a .

Nearctic: 1) Mexico (north), 2) USA; Neotropical: 1) Belize, 2) Colombia, 3) Costa Rica, 4) Ecuador, 5) Guatemala, 6) Honduras, 7) Mexico (south), 8) Nicaragua, 9) Peru, 10) Venezuela ( Cooley & Kohls 1944, Jones et al. 1972, Mendoza-Uribe & Chávez-Chorocco 2004, Alvarez et al. 2005, GuzmánCornejo et al. 2011, Polsomboon et al. 2017, Lado et al. 2018, Acevedo-Gutiérrez et al. 2020, Allerdice et al. 2020, Maya-Delgado et al. 2020, Guglielmone et al. 2021).

Determining the geographic distribution of Amblyomma maculatum is difficult because literature records of this species may include the morphologically related Amblyomma triste , or both names may be treated as different species. Lado et al. (2018) found molecular evidence suggesting that Amblyomma triste is a synonym of Amblyomma maculatum , but support for this opinion should also include cross-breeding studies. Allerdice et al. (2020) partly addressed this issue by cross-breeding populations of Amblyomma maculatum from the southeastern and southwestern USA, finding reproductive incompatibility between these tick populations. Cuervo et al. (2021) did not confer specific status on two morphotypes included in the study of Lado et al. (2018), one from South America and another from North America. Amblyomma triste is treated here as a valid species, while acknowledging the difficulties attending morphological diagnosis of adults of this tick when compared with those of Amblyomma maculatum , as shown in Mendoza-Uribe & Chávez-Chorocco (2004), Lado et al. (2018) and Cuervo et al. (2021), among others. Estrada-Peña et al. (2005) stressed the problems involved in determining the immature stages of these two species, as well as those of Amblyomma tigrinum , a third species in this group that only complicates efforts to define the geographic distribution of Amblyomma maculatum .

Need et al. (1991), Muñoz & Casanueva (2001) and others set the southern limit of the range of Amblyomma maculatum in Argentina, but records from this country, as well as Bolivia, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay, are provisionally regarded here as having resulted from confusion with Amblyomma tigrinum or Amblyomma triste . Keirans (1982) listed records of Amblyomma maculatum from Argentina, but the specimens involved were in fact Amblyomma tigrinum , as discussed in Guglielmone et al. (2003). Newstead (1909), Thompson (1950) and Walker & Olwage (1987) included Jamaica within the range of Amblyomma maculatum , but Morel (1966) found no evidence of the presence of this tick in Jamaica, which is excluded from its range. Khattak et al. (2012) and Eyo et al. (2014) stated that Amblyomma maculatum is established in Pakistan and Nigeria, respectively, but these countries are not included here.