Ixodes (Haemixodes) longiscutatum Boero (new status) and I. (H.) uruguayensis Kohls & Clifford, a new synonym of I. (H.) longiscutatum (Acari: Ixodidae)

Abstract

Females of Ixodes (Haemixodes) uruguayensis Kohls & Clifford, 1967, a species whose adults were unknown until the present, were obtained in the laboratory from engorged nymphs collected on rodents (Scapteromys tumidus and Oxymycterus nasutus) in the counties of Maldonado and San José, Uruguay. Morphological characters of these females were identical to those given in the description of the female of Ixodes longiscutatum Boero, 1944. I. uruguayensis is, thus, relegated to a junior subjective synonym of I. longiscutatum. However, because of the unique morphological characters of the immature stages, the validity of the subgenus Haemixodes Kohls & Clifford, 1967 is not questioned. Therefore, the new status of Ixodes (Haemixodes) uruguayensis Kohls & Clifford, 1967 is Ixodes (Haemixodes) longiscutatum Boero, 1944

Ixodid ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) present at Parque Nacional El Rey, Argentina

“…Immature stages of I. longiscutatum were unknown until recently, when Venzal et al (2001) found that the immatures described as I. uruguayensis were in fact I. longiscutatum. This species was found mainly on C. tschudii captured during spring in mountainous Chaco.…”

The phylogenetic position of Ixodes stilesi Neumann, 1911 (Acari: Ixodidae): morphological and preliminary molecular evidences from 16S rDNA sequences

“…The larva and the nymph of I. longiscutatus and I. neuquenensis, and the nymph of I. stilesi, were recently recognised (Venzal et al, 2001;Guglielmone et al, 2004; this study) but the immature stages of I. chilensis and I. taglei remain unknown.…”

“…Nevertheless, the list includes, for example, I. uruguayensis Kohls & Clifford, 1967distinct from I. longiscutatus Boero, 1944, when in fact they are synonyms (Venzal et al, 2001). We consider that there are a total of 243 species of Ixodes; 241 listed in Horak et al (2002) plus I. paranaensis Barros-Battesti, Arzua, Pichorim & Keirans, 2003 and I. dicei Keirans & Ajohda, 2003.…”

Comments on controversial tick (Acari: Ixodida) species names and species described or resurrected from 2003 to 2008

“…Kohls and Clifford, 1967 is included in Camicas et al (1998) and in Barker and Murrell (2004) but not in Horak et al (2002). This name is a junior synonym of I. longiscutatus Boero, 1944, as discussed in Venzal et al (2001), who demonstrated that the larvae and nymphs of I. uruguayensis (the only known stages of this tick) are in fact the immature stages of I. longiscutatus. Barker and Murrell (2004) incorrectly listed both names.…”