Argasidae

Pigeon tick Argas reflexus, photographed by Marcello Romano.


Belongs within: Parasitiformes.

The Argasidae, soft ticks, are a group of ticks lacking a well-developed scutum. Most feed on hosts returning to regular shelters such as nests, burrows or caves. Rather than permanently attaching to a single host like the hard ticks of the Ixodidae, females of Argasidae feed multiple times following maturity. Most argasids feed on their hosts for only short periods at a time, and may survive for extraordinarily long periods (up to several years) without feeding. However, the spinose ear tick Otobius megnini feeds deep within the ears of its mammalian host, causing damage that in extreme cases may even be fatal (Keirans 2009).

Species of Argas possess a distinct sutural line separating dorsal and ventral body surfaces that is absent in other genera. In Nothoaspis the anterior part of the dorsal integument is smooth and leathery (Keirans 2009).

Characters (from Keirans 2009): Capitulum situated anteriorly in larva, situated ventrally and not visible from above in postlarval stages; dorsal plate present or absent in larvae, leathery pseudoscutum rarely present in nymphs and adults. Paired spiracular plates situated dorsolaterally between coxae III-IV.

<==Argasidae [Argasini]
    |--Antricola Ke09
    |--Parantricola marginatus DC91
    |--Nothoaspis reddelli Ke09
    |--Otobius Banks 1912 H98
    |    |--O. lagophilus Ke09
    |    `--O. megnini (Dugès 1884) [=Argas megnini] H07
    |--Ornithodoros F-M91
    |    |--O. amblus Ke09
    |    |--O. coriaceus Koch 1844 H07
    |    |--O. dugesi Mazzotti 1943 M-PV-G01
    |    |--O. gurneyi Warburton 1926 [=Ornithodorus (l. c.) gurneyi] H98
    |    |--O. hermsi Wheeler et al. 1935 M-PV-G01
    |    |--O. kelleyi Kr09
    |    |--O. macmillani Hoogstraal & Kohls 1966 H98
    |    |--O. maritimus NJ91
    |    |--O. (Ornithodoros) moubata (Murray 1877) DJS91, P91
    |    |--O. muesebecki Ke09
    |    |--O. nicollei Mooser 1932 H07
    |    |--O. papillipes (Birula 1895) P91 [incl. O. tholozani (Laboulbène & Mégnin 1882) A56]
    |    |--O. parkeri Cooley 1936 M-PV-G01
    |    |--O. porcinus LL07
    |    |--O. savignyi F-M91
    |    |--O. talaje H07
    |    |--O. (Pavlovskyella) tartakovskyi DJS91
    |    |--O. tholozani F-M91
    |    |--O. transversus WP99
    |    |--O. turicata (Dugès 1876) [=Argas turicata] H07
    |    `--O. verrucosus B96a
    `--Argas Latreille 1795 S61
         |  i. s.: A. erraticus Lucas 1847 E12
         |         A. lahorensis OW01
         |--A. (Argas) KH75
         |    |--A. (A.) cooleyi KH75
         |    |--A. (A.) falco Kaiser & Hoogstraal 1974 KH75
         |    |--A. (A.) japonicus KH75
         |    |--A. (A.) lagenoplastis Froggatt 1906 KH75, H98
         |    |--A. (A.) latus LD91
         |    |--A. (A.) lowryae Kaiser & Hoogstraal 1975 KH75
         |    |--A. (A.) polonicus DJS91
         |    |--A. (A.) reflexus DJS91 [=Acarus reflexus CF77; incl. Rhynchoprion columbae CF77]
         |    |--A. (A.) tridentatus LD91
         |    |--A. (A.) radiatus B96b
         |    `--A. (A.) vulgaris LD91
         |--A. (Carios Latreille 1796) E-PAG91, H98
         |    |--A. (C.) australiensis Kohls & Hoogstraal 1962 H98
         |    |--‘Carios’ capensis (Neumann 1901) [=Ornithodoros talaje var. capensis] H98
         |    |--A. (C.) daviesi Kaiser & Hoogstraal 1973 H98
         |    |--A. (C.) dewae Kais & Hoogstraal 1974 H98
         |    |--‘Carios’ jerseyi GE05
         |    |--A. (C.) macrodermae Hoogstraal et al. 1977 H98
         |    `--A. (C.) vespertilionis Latreille 1802 E-PAG91
         `--A. (Persicargas) KH75
              |--A. (P.) arboreus DJS91
              |--A. (P.) nullaborensis Hoogstraal & Kaiser 1973 KH75
              |--A. (P.) persicus (Oken 1818) KH75, H98 (see below for synonymy)
              |--A. (P.) robertsi Hoogstraal et al. 1968 KH75
              `--A. (P.) walkerae DJS91

Argas (Persicargas) persicus (Oken 1818) KH75, H98 [=Rhynchoprion persicum H98; incl. A. americana Packard 1873 H98, A. americanus H98, A. victoriensis Sweet 1910 H98]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A56] Anastos, G. 1956. The ticks (Acarina: Ixodoidea) of the J. Klapperich Afghanistan Expedition, 1952 and 1953. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 46 (1): 18–19.

[B96a] Buczek, A. 1996a. Anomalies in Argas reflexus (Fabr.) (Argasidae) collected from nature. In: Mitchell, R., D. J. Horn, G. R. Needham & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 1. Proceedings pp. 319–324. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[B96b] Buczek, A. 1996b. Regeneration of legs in Argas (Argas) reflexus (Fabricius) (Argasidae). In: Mitchell, R., D. J. Horn, G. R. Needham & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 1. Proceedings pp. 709–711. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[CF77] Canestrini, G., & F. Fanzago. 1877. Intorno agli Acari Italiani. Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Serie 5, 4: 69–208, pls 2–7.

[DC91] Daniel, M., V. Černý, J. Štěrba & J. de la Cruz. 1991. Morphological study of adults of trombiculid mites from Cuban hot caves. In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 2 pp. 261–263. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[DJS91] Dusbábek, F., A. Jegorov & P. Šimek. 1991. Artificial assembly pheromone of argasid ticks (Ixodoidea: Argasidae). In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 1 pp. 59–68. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[E-PAG91] Estrada-Peña, A., A. Albó & J. Gutiérrez. 1991. Phenotypic variation of larval Argas (Carios) vespertilionis (Argasidae) in Spain and northern Africa. In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 2 pp. 147–153. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l'Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.

[F-M91] Feldman-Muhsam, B. 1991. The role of Adlerocystis sp. in the reproduction of argasid ticks. In: Schuster, R., & P. W. Murphy (eds) The Acari: Reproduction, development and life-history strategies pp. 179–190. Chapman & Hall: London.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[H98] Halliday, R. B. 1998. Mites of Australia: A checklist and bibliography. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood.

[H07] Hoffmann, A. 2007. Acarology in Mexico: prehispanic to modern times. In: Morales-Malacara, J. B., V. M. Behan-Pelletier, E. Ueckermann, T. M. Pérez, E. G. Estrada-Venegas & M. Badii (eds) Acarology XI: Proceedings of the International Congress pp. 21–26. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[KH75] Kaiser, M. N., & H. Hoogstraal. 1975. Observations on the subgenus Argas (Ixodoidea: Argasidae: Argas). A. (A.) lowryae, new species, parasitizing cave-dwelling kestrels in the Nullarbor region of Western Australia. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 68 (3): 585–590.

[Ke09] Keirans, J. E. 2009. Order Ixodida. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3rd ed. pp. 111–123. Texas Tech University Press.

[Kr09] Krantz, G. W. 2009. Form and function. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3rd ed. pp. 5–53. Texas Tech University Press.

[LD91] Leonovich, S. A., & F. Dusbábek. 1991. Pheromone sensory subsystem in ticks: correlation between structure of sensilla and evolution of behaviour. In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 1 pp. 53–58. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[LL07] Liu, J., L. Liu, Y. Zhang, Z. Wei & J. Liu. 2007. Preliminary studies on the juvenile hormone of Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae). In: Morales-Malacara, J. B., V. M. Behan-Pelletier, E. Ueckermann, T. M. Pérez, E. G. Estrada-Venegas & M. Badii (eds) Acarology XI: Proceedings of the International Congress pp. 205–208. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[M-PV-G01] Montiel-Parra, G., G. A. Villegas-Guzman, M. Vargas & O. J. Polaco. 2001. Mites associated with nests of Neotoma albigula Hartley, 1894 (Rodentia: Muridae) in Durango, México. In: Halliday, R. B., D. E. Walter, H. C. Proctor, R. A. Norton & M. J. Colloff (eds) Acarology: Proceedings of the 10th International Congress pp. 586–593. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

[NJ91] Nuttall, P. A., & L. D. Jones. 1991. Non-viraemic tick-borne virus transmission: mechanism and significance. In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 2 pp. 3–6. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[OW01] Otto, J. C., & K. J. Wilson. 2001. Assessment of the usefulness of ribosomal 18S and mitochondrial COI sequences in Prostigmata phylogeny. In: Halliday, R. B., D. E. Walter, H. C. Proctor, R. A. Norton & M. J. Colloff (eds) Acarology: Proceedings of the 10th International Congress pp. 100–109. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

[P91] Podboronov, V. M. 1991. Antibacterial protective mechanisms of ixodoid ticks. In: Dusbábek, F., & V. Bukva (eds) Modern Acarology: Proceedings of the VIII International Congress of Acarology, held in České Budĕjovice, Czechoslovakia, 6–11 August 1990 vol. 2 pp. 375–380. SPB Academic Publishing: The Hague.

[S61] Southcott, R. V. 1961. Studies on the systematics and biology of the Erythraeoidea (Acarina), with a critical revision of the genera and subfamilies. Australian Journal of Zoology 9: 367–610.

[WP99] Walter, D. E., & H. C. Proctor. 1999. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

Last updated: 21 May 2019.

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