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Bothriocroton

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Bothriocroton
Temporal range: Cenomanian–present
Light micrograph of female Bothriocroton undatum.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Ixodida
Family: Ixodidae
Subfamily: Bothriocrotinae
Genus: Bothriocroton
Keirans, King & Sharrad, 1994
Type species
Bothriocroton glebopalma
Keirans, King & Sharrad, 1994

Bothriocroton is a genus of hard ticks.[1] There are seven extant member species, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea.[2] Bothriocroton species typically parasitise monotremes, marsupials, and reptiles.

Bothriocroton ticks have a limited pathogenic profile. Bothriocroton hydrosauri (Southern reptile tick), is a vector of Rickettsia honei, the causative bacteria of Flinders Island spotted fever.[3] Bothriocroton concolor (echidna tick) carries Borrelia tachyglossi,[4][5] but the bacterium is phylogenetically distinct from Lyme disease Borrelia, and has not been shown to be pathogenic to humans.[6][7] Similar reptile-associated Borrelia are found in Bothriocroton undatum.[8]

Description

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Bothriocroton are large (2-7mm), round ticks. Their mouthparts are long, with lateral palpal margins narrower than their basis capitulum. They are further characterised by a posterior anal groove, and absence of sclerotised adanal plates. They have no eyes.

The reported synapomorphy for Bothriocroton is three pairs of large wax glands on segment VIII of the larvae.[9][10]

Etymology

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"Bothriocroton" comes from the Greek: bothros, meaning pitted; and krótos, meaning tick.[11] Many Bothriocroton ticks are highly punctate, particularly on the male conscutum.

Taxonomy

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Bothriocroton is a relatively new genus. It was first a subgenus, described in 1994 with reference to Bothriocroton glebopalma, which had distinctive characters delineating the species from other what was then Aponomma subgenera. Nuclear rDNA analysis subsequently demonstrated that the heterogenous Aponomma genus was polyphyletic,[12] and Bothriocroton was raised to full generic rank to accomodate a class of former Aponomma.[1]

Bothriocroton contains seven extant species:

An additional extinct Bothriocroton species has been proposed from Burmese amber paleobiota specimens.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b Klompen, Hans; Dobson, Susan J.; Barker, Stephen C. (2002-10-01). "A new subfamily, Bothriocrotoninae n. subfam., for the genus Bothriocroton Keirans, King & Sharrad, 1994 status amend. (Ixodida: Ixodidae), and the synonymy of Aponomma Neumann, 1899 with Amblyomma Koch, 1844". Systematic Parasitology. 53 (2): 101–107. doi:10.1023/A:1020466007722. ISSN 1573-5192. PMID 12386418.
  2. ^ Barker, Stephen; Barker, Dayana (2023). Ticks of Australasia: 125 species of ticks in and around Australia. Auckland, New Zealand: Zootaxa, Magnolia Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-77688-700-2.
  3. ^ Stenos, John; Graves, Stephen; Popov, Vsevolod L.; Walker, David H. (2003). "Aponomma hydrosauri, the reptile-associated tick reservoir of Rickettsia honei on Flinders Island, Australia". The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 69 (3): 314–317. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2003.69.314. ISSN 0002-9637. PMID 14628950.
  4. ^ Loh, Siew-May; Gofton, Alexander W.; Lo, Nathan; Gillett, Amber; Ryan, Una M.; Irwin, Peter J.; Oskam, Charlotte L. (2016-06-14). "Novel Borrelia species detected in echidna ticks, Bothriocroton concolor, in Australia". Parasites & Vectors. 9 (1): 339. doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1627-x. ISSN 1756-3305. PMC 4908759. PMID 27301754.
  5. ^ Gofton, Alexander W.; Oskam, Charlotte L.; Lo, Nathan; Beninati, Tiziana; Wei, Heng; McCarl, Victoria; Murray, Dáithí C.; Paparini, Andrea; Greay, Telleasha L.; Holmes, Andrew J.; Bunce, Michael; Ryan, Una; Irwin, Peter (2015-06-25). "Inhibition of the endosymbiont "Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii" during 16S rRNA gene profiling reveals potential pathogens in Ixodes ticks from Australia". Parasites & Vectors. 8 (1): 345. doi:10.1186/s13071-015-0958-3. ISSN 1756-3305. PMC 4493822. PMID 26108374.
  6. ^ Gofton, Alexander W.; Margos, Gabriele; Fingerle, Volker; Hepner, Sabrina; Loh, Siew-May; Ryan, Una; Irwin, Peter; Oskam, Charlotte L. (2018-12-01). "Genome-wide analysis of Borrelia turcica and 'Candidatus Borrelia tachyglossi' shows relapsing fever-like genomes with unique genomic links to Lyme disease Borrelia". Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 66: 72–81. Bibcode:2018InfGE..66...72G. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2018.09.013. ISSN 1567-1348. PMID 30240834.
  7. ^ "Researchers bring science to Lyme disease debate". ABC News. 2016-07-13. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  8. ^ Panetta, Jessica L.; Šíma, Radek; Calvani, Nichola E. D.; Hajdušek, Ondřej; Chandra, Shona; Panuccio, Jessica; Šlapeta, Jan (2017). "Reptile-associated Borrelia species in the goanna tick (Bothriocroton undatum) from Sydney, Australia". Parasites & Vectors. 10 (1): 616. doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2579-5. ISSN 1756-3305. PMC 5738880. PMID 29262840.
  9. ^ Klompen, Hans; Dobson, Susan J.; Barker, Stephen C. (2002). "A new subfamily, Bothriocrotoninae n. subfam., for the genus Bothriocroton Keirans, King & Sharrad, 1994 status amend. (Ixodida: Ixodidae), and the synonymy of Aponomma Neumann, 1899 with Amblyomma Koch, 1844". Systematic Parasitology. 53 (2): 101–107. doi:10.1023/A:1020466007722. ISSN 0165-5752. PMID 12386418.
  10. ^ Burger, Thomas D.; Shao, Renfu; Beati, Lorenza; Miller, Hilary; Barker, Stephen C. (2012). "Phylogenetic analysis of ticks (Acari: Ixodida) using mitochondrial genomes and nuclear rRNA genes indicates that the genus Amblyomma is polyphyletic". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 64 (1): 45–55. Bibcode:2012MolPE..64...45B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.03.004.
  11. ^ a b Keirans, James E.; King, Dennis R.; Sharrad, Robert D. (1994-01-01). "Aponomma (Bothriocroton) glebopalma, n. subgen., n. sp., and Amblyomma glauerti n. sp. (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae), Parasites of Monitor Lizards (Varanidae) in Australia". Journal of Medical Entomology. 31 (1): 132–147. doi:10.1093/jmedent/31.1.132. ISSN 1938-2928. PMID 8158616.
  12. ^ Dobson, Susan J.; Barker, Stephen C. (1999-03-01). "Phylogeny of the Hard Ticks (Ixodidae) Inferred from 18S rRNA Indicates That the GenusAponommaIs Paraphyletic". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 11 (2): 288–295. doi:10.1006/mpev.1998.0565. ISSN 1055-7903.
  13. ^ Neumann, Louis Georges (1899). Revision of the family Ixodidae (in French). [Paris]. doi:10.5962/t.173870.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ Denny, Henry (November 1943). "Description of Six supposed new species of Parasites". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 12 (78): 312–316. doi:10.1080/03745484309442530 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  15. ^ Schulze, Paul (1936). New and little-known Amblyomma and Aponomma samples from Africa, South America, India, Borneo and Australia (Ixodidae) (in German). Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde. pp. 619–637.
  16. ^ Roberts, F. H. S. (1953). "The Australian species of Aponomma and Amblyomma (Ixodoidea)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 1 (1): 111–161. doi:10.1071/zo9530111. ISSN 1446-5698.
  17. ^ Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia; Dunlop, Jason A.; Pfeffer, Timo; Würzinger, Felix; Handschuh, Stephan; Mans, Ben J. (2023). "Hard ticks in Burmese amber with Australasian affinities". Parasitology. 150 (2): 157–171. doi:10.1017/S0031182022001585. ISSN 0031-1820. PMC 10090639. PMID 36341553.


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