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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 6: (In progress) November 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-11-10
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.6.3
Page range: 618-629
Abstract views: 24
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of the Recent genus Amblyomma (Parasitiformes: Ixodidae) discovered in Dominican amber

Institute for Geology, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany; Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
Institut Pasteur of the São Paulo State Department of Health, São Paulo, Brazil; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Institute of Materials Physics, Max-Planck-Str. 1, D-21502 Geesthacht, Germany
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
Fraunhofer Institute of Immunology, Infection and Pandemic Research, Türkenstraße 87, D-80799 Penzberg, Germany; Experimental Parasitology, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Veterinärstr. 13, D-80539 Munich, Germany
amber Miocene Ixodida hard ticks fossil biogeography Acari Ixodidae

Abstract

Two new fossil hard ticks (Arachnida: Ixodida: Ixodidae) from Dominican amber (Miocene, probably Burdigalian, ca. 16 Ma) are described. An almost fully engorged female and a partly engorged larva were documented by combining light microscopy with high-resolution µCT-scans at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and 3D modelling of the data. Images of the fossils created from these 3D models facilitated comparisons with living ticks and the new material can be assigned to the Recent genus Amblyomma C.L. Koch, 1844 as Amblyomma arawakan Chitimia-Dobler & Martins sp. nov. The new amber species appears to be most closely related to the extant New World tick Amblyomma auricularium Conil, 1878. Possible hosts for the fossils are discussed within the wider context of their historical biogeography.

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