Dermacentor Explained

Dermacentor is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with native species on all continents except Australia. Most are found in North America.^[1]

Hosts of Dermacentor ticks include many large and small mammals, including horses, deer, cattle, lagomorphs, peccaries, porcupines, tapirs, desert bighorn sheep, and humans.^[1] The American dog tick (D. variabilis) is a member of the genus.^[2]

Dermacentor species are vectors of many pathogens, including Rickettsia rickettsii, which causes the disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Coxiella burnetii, which causes Q fever, Anaplasma marginale, which causes anaplasmosis in cattle, Francisella tularensis, which causes tularemia, Babesia caballi, which causes equine piroplasmosis, and the Flavivirus that causes Powassan encephalitis.^[1] Dermacentor ticks inject a neurotoxin that causes tick paralysis.^[1]

Species

As of 2019, about 41 species are placed in the genus:

• Dermacentor abaensis Teng, 1963
• Dermacentor albipictus Packard, 1869 – winter tick
• Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, 1908 – Rocky Mountain wood tick
• Dermacentor asper Arthur, 1960
• Dermacentor atrosignatus Neumann, 1906
• Dermacentor auratus Supino, 1897
• Dermacentor bellulus Schulze, 1933
• Dermacentor circumguttatus Neumann, 1897
• Dermacentor compactus Neumann, 1901
• Dermacentor confragus Schulze, 1933
• Dermacentor dispar Cooley, 1937
• Dermacentor dissimilis Cooley, 1947
• Dermacentor everestianus Hirst, 1926
• Dermacentor filippovae Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2015^[3]
• Dermacentor halli McIntosh, 1931
• Dermacentor hunteri Bishopp, 1912
• Dermacentor imitans Warburton 1933
• Dermacentor kamshadalus Neumann, 1908^[4]
• Dermacentor laothaiensis Apanaskevich et al., 2019^[5]
• Dermacentor latus Cooley, 1937
• Dermacentor limbooliati Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2015^[6]
• Dermacentor marginatus Sulzer, 1776
• Dermacentor montanus Filippova & Panova, 1974
• Dermacentor nitens Neumann, 1897
• Dermacentor niveus Neumann 1897
• Dermacentor nuttalli Olenev, 1928
• Dermacentor occidentalis Marx, 1892 - Pacific Coast tick
• Dermacentor panamensis Apanaskevich & Bermúdez, 2013^[7]
• Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann, 1901
• Dermacentor pasteuri Apanaskevich et al., 2020^[8]
• Dermacentor pavlovskyi Olenev 1927
• Dermacentor pomerantzevi Serdyukova, 1951
• Dermacentor pseudocompactus Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2016^[9]
• Dermacentor raskemensis Pomerantsev, 1946
• Dermacentor reticulatus Fabricius, 1794 – ornate cow tick, ornate dog tick, meadow tick, marsh tick
• Dermacentor rhinocerinus Denny, 1843
• Dermacentor silvarum Olenev 1931
• Dermacentor sinicus Schulze, 1932
• Dermacentor steini Schulze, 1933
• Dermacentor taiwanensis Sugimoto, 1935
• Dermacentor tamokensis Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2016^[9]
• Dermacentor ushakovae Filippova & Panova 1987
• Dermacentor variabilis Say, 1821 – wood tick, American dog tick

External links

• S. J. Dergousoff . N. B. Chilton . Differentiation of three species of ixodid tick, Dermacentor andersoni, D. variabilis and D. albipictus, by PCR-based approaches using markers in ribosomal DNA . . 21 . 5–6 . 343–348 . 2007 . 17544620 . 10.1016/j.mcp.2007.04.003 .

Notes and References

1. C. E. Yunker . J. E. Keirans . C. M. Clifford . E. R. Easton . 1986 . Dermacentor ticks (Acari: Ixodoidea: Ixodidae) of the New World: a scanning electron microscope atlas . . 88 . 4 . 609–627 . 2013-09-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131029204733/http://www.afpmb.org/sites/default/files/pubs/techguides/tg26/References/Yunker%20Dermacentor%20Key.pdf . 2013-10-29 . dead .
2. Web site: W. Chen . P. E. Kaufman . American Dog Tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (Arachnida: Ixodida: Ixodidae) . EENY-443 . Entomology and Nematology. Florida Cooperative Extension Service . . 2008 . December 4, 2013.
3. Apanaskevich . Dmitry A. . Apanaskevich . Maria A. . Description of a New Dermacentor (Acari: Ixodidae) Species from Thailand and Vietnam . Journal of Medical Entomology . September 2015 . 52 . 5 . 806–812 . 10.1093/jme/tjv067 . 26336207 . 4668757 .
4. Dmitry A Apanaskevich, Stephen C Barker, Dermacentor kamshadalus (Acari: Ixodidae), a Tick of Mountain Goats and Sheep in Western United States, Canada, and Russia, Is a Valid Species, Journal of Medical Entomology, tjaa190, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaa190.
5. Apanaskevich . Dmitry A. . Chaloemthanetphong . Aummarin . Vongphayloth . Khamsing . Ahantarig . Arunee . Apanaskevich . Maria A. . Brey . Paul T. . Hertz . Jeffrey C. . Lakeomany . Khaithong . Sutherland . Ian W. . Trinachartvanit . Wachareeporn . Description of a new species of Dermacentor Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) from Laos and Thailand . Systematic Parasitology . 96 . 6 . 475–484 . 20 May 2019 . 10.1007/s11230-019-09861-z . 31111306 . 160013314 .
6. Apanaskevich . M. A. . Apanaskevich . D. A. . Description of New Dermacentor (Acari: Ixodidae) Species from Malaysia and Vietnam . Journal of Medical Entomology . 25 February 2015 . 52 . 2 . 156–162 . 10.1093/jme/tjv001 . 26336300 . 4481718 .
7. Dmitry A. Apanaskevich . Sergio E. Bermúdez . 2013 . Description of a new Dermacentor (Acari: Ixodidae) species, a parasite of wild mammals in Central America . . 50 . 6 . 1190–1201 . 10.1603/ME13121. 24843922 . free .
8. Dmitry Apanaskevich, Khamsing Vongphayloth, Pattraporn Jeangkhwoa, Aummarin Chaloemthanetphong, Arunee Ahantarig, Maria Apanaskevich, Paul T. Brey, Khaithong Lakeomany, Wachareeporn Trinachartvanit. 2020. Description of a new species of Dermacentor Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) from the mountains of Laos and Thailand. Systematic Parasitology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-020-09916-6. Last accessed 11 Jun 2020.
9. Dmitry A. Apanaskevich and Maria A. Apanaskevich. 2016. Description of Two New Species of Dermacentor Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) From Oriental Asia. Systematic Parasitology 2016 Feb;93(2):159-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-015-9614-8. Epub 2016 Jan 20.