Rhipicephalus annulatus, R. australis or R. microplus? Discordance between morphological and genetic data among three cattle tick species
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2022
Abstract
The taxonomy of ticks of the subgenus Boophilus has been extensively debated and is often complicated by the high intraspecific variation of morphological features between species. Notably, the cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus is a species complex consisting of Rhipicephalus annulatus, Rhipicephalus australis and the three mitochondrial clades (A-C) of R. microplus. To gain insight into the taxonomic status of this species complex, we performed morphological and molecular analyses on these cattle ticks across four states in peninsular Malaysia. We morphologically identified 60 males and 104 females of R. microplus, 298 males and 374 females of R. australis, and one R. annulatus male in our field collection, of which the latter two species have never been recorded in Malaysia. However, all three morphologically identified species were molecularly assigned as R. microplus clade A based on the barcoding cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) analysis. The discrepancy between morphological and genetic data highlights an urgent need for further exploration and in-depth research into the taxonomic status of these sympatric tick species.
Keywords
Rhipicephalus microplus, Cattle ticks, Malaysia, Subgenus Boophilus, Species complex
Divisions
tidrec
Funders
Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) program (Grant No: MO002-2019),Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine from Hamburg, Germany
Publication Title
Experimental and Applied Acarology
Volume
87
Issue
1
Publisher
Kluwer (now part of Springer)
Publisher Location
VAN GODEWIJCKSTRAAT 30, 3311 GZ DORDRECHT, NETHERLANDS