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Issue: Vol. 5627 No. 3: 29 Apr. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-29
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5627.3.5
Page range: 503-525
Abstract views: 52
PDF downloaded: 1

Validation of Sharifiella Santos Dias, 1958 (Acari: Ixodidae) as a genus of hard ticks containing S. theilerae (Hoogstraal, 1953), a parasite of tail-less tenrec, Tenrec ecaudatus (Schreber) (Afrosoricida: Tenrecidae) on Madagascar

United States National Tick Collection; the James H. Oliver; Jr. Institute for Coastal Plain Science; Georgia Southern University; Statesboro; Georgia 30460-7982; USA
Department of Biology; Georgia Southern University; Statesboro; Georgia 30460; USA
Negaunee Integrative Research Center; Field Museum of Natural History; Chicago; Illinois 60605; USA
Association Vahatra; Antananarivo 101; Madagascar
Statesboro; Georgia; 30458; USA
Department of Parasitology; School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences; the University of Queensland; Brisbane; Queensland; 4072 Australia
Acari Sharifiella Ixodidae Madagascar phylogeny

Abstract

We establish Sharifiella Santos Dias, 1958 (Acari: Ixodidae), formerly considered a subgenus of Haemaphysalis Koch, 1844, at full genus rank. The only species of this genus, S. theilerae (Hoogstraal, 1953), is a specific parasite of tenrecs (Afrosoricida: Tenrecidae) on Madagascar. Several morphological characters, including the unique shape of palpal segment II, allow discrimination of this genus and species from any other ixodid ticks. Male, female, nymph, and larva of S. theilerae are redescribed here. Through short-read genomic sequencing we assembled and annotated the entire mitochondrial genome of S. theilerae, as well as assembled the nuclear 28S large ribosomal subunit gene. On the basis of our phylogenies using a nucleotide alignment of the 10 mitochondrial protein-coding genes, as well as the 28S rDNA gene, S. theilerae, is basal to the rhipicephaline lineage (Dermacentor Koch, 1844, Hyalomma Koch, 1844, Rhipicephalus Koch, 1844, and Rhipicentor Nuttall & Warburton, 1908), and not the haemaphysaline lineage.

 

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How to Cite

Apanaskevich, D.A., Greiman, S.E., Goodman, S.M., Apanaskevich, M.A., Ahmed, R. & Barker, S.C. (2025) Validation of Sharifiella Santos Dias, 1958 (Acari: Ixodidae) as a genus of hard ticks containing S. theilerae (Hoogstraal, 1953), a parasite of tail-less tenrec, Tenrec ecaudatus (Schreber) (Afrosoricida: Tenrecidae) on Madagascar. Zootaxa, 5627 (3), 503–525. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5627.3.5