Notas de ixodologia: VI - Descrição da fêmea de Amblyomma Multipunctum, Neumann 1899 e redescrição do macho (Acari: Ixodídae)

Abstract

<abstract language="eng">The female of Amblyomma multipunctum Neumann, 1899 is described for the first time, the species being easily recognized by the unusual formula 5/5 in the female's hypostoma, the formula of the male's being 4/4. A redescription of the male is presented

New Records ofAmblyomma multipunctumandAmblyomma naponensefrom Ecuador, with Description ofA. multipunctumNymph

“…Regardless of these morphological discrepancies, all DNA sequences were identical to each other, indicating that male coxa IV spur and female hypostome dentition are likely to be intraspecifically polymorphic characters of this species. This polymorphism is in agreement with Fonseca and Araga˜o (1953), who noticed that among A. multipunctum males of different sizes, smaller specimens had smaller coxa IV spur than larger specimens. Such variations have also been observed for other Neotropical Amblyomma spp.…”

“…Adult ticks were morphologically identified to species following Robinson (1926), Fonseca and Araga˜o (1953), Jones et al (1972), and Barros-Battesti et al (2006). Nymphs were measured with the use of the Image-Pro Plus 5.1 program for analysis of images and morphometry, fitted to an Olympus SZX stereoscope microscope (Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, Japan).…”

“…Robinson (1926) redescribed the taxon after re-examining 1 of the type specimens. Decades later, Fonseca and Araga˜o (1953) reexamined the types of A. multipunctum, and redescribed the male and described the female, based on specimens of unknown host and origin, although the author alleged they were from South America. Based on the above descriptions and redescriptions, A. multipunctum is a valid species that can be easily differentiated from the other New World Amblyomma species by a combination of the following characters in the male: hypostomal dentition 4/4, scutum heavily punctated, coxa I with 2 large, contiguous and long spurs, 2 very small spurs on each of coxae II-III, and a single, pointed and usually long spur on coxa IV.…”

“…The only other known Amblyomma species from the New World with male hypostomal dentition 4/4 are Amblyomma fuscum Neumann, Amblyomma goeldii Neumann, A. humerale, Amblyomma romitii Tonelli-Rondelli, Amblyomma sabanerae Stoll, and Amblyomma tuberculatum Marx; however, the males of these 6 species have much shorter spurs on coxae I and IV (Cooley and Kohls, 1944;Barros-Battesti et al, 2005, 2007. Fonseca and Araga˜o (1953) described the female of A. multipunctum as having hypostomal dentition 5/5 and coxa I spurs similar to males. These features also easily differentiate A. multipuctum from the other species, because the only other New World Amblyomma female known to have a hypostomal dentition 5/5 is A. romitii (not all specimens), which has short coxa I spurs (Barros-Battesti et al, 2007).…”

“…Based on the above literature for A. multipunctum, this species is currently known to occur only in Colombia and Ecuador. Whereas the original descriptions of the male and female provided by Neumann (1899) and Fonseca and Araga˜o (1953), respectively, are valid, their locality data are incomplete or mislabeled. The immature stages of A. multipunctum remain undescribed (Guglielmone et al, 2003).…”