A series of larval Amblyomma species (Acari: Ixodidae) from amber deposits in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Four larval ticks belonging to the genus Amblyomma (Acari: Ixodidae), and so far as we are able to discern, all belonging to the same species, were found in Dominican Republic amber deposits. These specimens represent the second known collection of an Amblyomma species in amber, and the first fossil larva of the hard tick family Ixodidae. These larval Amblyomma species most closely resemble A. dissimile, an amphibian and reptilian ectoparasite found in the southern United States through the Caribbean, Central America and South America. This is also the first report in which a series of fossil ticks has been described. Because we were unable to see dorsal body setae on these larval Amblyomma specimens, we can neither unconditionally state that they are A. dissimile, nor constitute a new species of the genus Amblyomma.