The Iranian Hyalomma (Acari: Ixodidae) with molecular evidences to understand taxonomic status of species complexes

Abstract

The identification of Hyalomma is a challenging issue in the systematics of ixodid ticks. Here, we examined 960 adult males of Hyalomma tick from 10 provinces of Iran using morphological and molecular methods. PCR was carried out on 60 samples to amplify an ITS2 fragment of nuclear and a COI fragment of mitochondrial genomes. Nine species, namely H. aegyptium, H. anatolicum, H. asiaticum, H. scupense, H. dromedarii, H. excavatum, H. marginatum, H. rufipes and H. schulzei were identified. The validity of H. rufipes and H. excavatum can be challenged. We concluded that these species should be regarded as H. marginatum and H. anatolicum complexes, respectively. Furthermore, the taxonomic status of the two closely related H. anatolicum and H. asiaticum was confirmed as distinct species.