Haemaphysalis kyasanurensis sp. n., a Member of the formosensis Group in Southern India and Ceylon (Ixodoidea, Ixodidae)

Abstract

Haemaphysalis kyasanurensis sp. n. is described from adult and immature stages from areas of southwestern India where Kyasanur Forest disease occurs and from Ceylon. This species is compared with syntype adults of H. formosensis Neumann of Formosa, a closely related species for which a diagnosis is provided, and with other samples from Assam and Burma. Adult palpi of the new species have a small, abrupt basolateral salience that is lacking in H. formosensis. Immature stages of the new species have more salient palpi than adults. Haemaphysalis kyasanurensis sp. n. is described from males, females, nymphs, and larvae from areas of Shimoga District, Mysore State, India, in which Kyasanur Forest disease was first discovered in 1957 (Work, 1958) and from Ceylon. A diagnosis of syntype adults of H. formosensis Neumann is provided as a baseline for establishing differences between these two species, which are part of a cline in which H. kyasanurensis sp. n. of high rainfall areas of southwestern India and Ceylon is distinctly separated from H. formosensis of high rainfall areas of Formosa and Southeast Asia. Haemaphysalis kyasanurensis sp. n. The Kyasanur Forest Haemaphysalid