Rhipicephalus

Rhipicephalus
Rhipicephalus sanguineus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Subclass:	Acari
Superorder:	Parasitiformes
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Rhipicephalus
Species
about 74-75, see text

Rhipicephalus is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks. Most are native to tropical Africa.^[1]

Species are difficult to distinguish from one another because most are quite similar, but at the same time, individuals of one particular species can be quite variable.^[2] Most of the characters used to identify species pertain to male and immature specimens, and "females are sometimes simply impossible to identify".^[2]

Many Rhipicephalus are of economic, medical, and veterinary importance because they are vectors of pathogens. They transmit the pathogens that cause the animal and human diseases East Coast fever, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, rickettsiosis,^[1] Boutonneuse fever, Lyme disease, Q fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever,^[3] and they inject a neurotoxin in their bite which causes tick paralysis.^[1]

Familiar species of the genus include the brown dog tick (R. sanguineus).

There are about 74 to 75 species in this genus.^[1][2]

Species

• Rhipicephalus annulatus Say, 1821
• Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neumann 1901 – brown ear tick
• Rhipicephalus aquatilis Walker, Keirans & Pegram, 1993
• Rhipicephalus armatus Pocock, 1900
• Rhipicephalus arnoldi Theiler & Zumpt, 1949
• Rhipicephalus bequaerti Zumpt, 1949
• Rhipicephalus bergeoni Morel & Balis, 1976
• Rhipicephalus boueti Morel, 1957
• Rhipicephalus bursa Canestrini & Fanzago, 1878
• Rhipicephalus camicasi Morel, Mouchet & Rodhain, 1976
• Rhipicephalus capensis Koch, 1844
• Rhipicephalus carnivoralis Walker, 1966
• Rhipicephalus complanatus Neumann, 1911
• Rhipicephalus compositus Neumann, 1897
• Rhipicephalus congolensis Apanaskevich, Horak & Mulumba-Mfumu, 2013^[4]
• Rhipicephalus cuspidatus Neumann, 1906
• Rhipicephalus decoloratus Koch, 1844
• Rhipicephalus deltoideus Neumann, 1910
• Rhipicephalus distinctus Bedford 1932
• Rhipicephalus duttoni Neumann, 1907
• Rhipicephalus dux Dönitz, 1910
• Rhipicephalus evertsi Neumann, 1897
• Rhipicephalus exophthalmos Keirans & Walker 1993
• Rhipicephalus follis Dönitz, 1910
• Rhipicephalus fulvus Neumann, 1913
• Rhipicephalus geigyi Aeschlimann & Morel, 1965
• Rhipicephalus gertrudae Feldman-Muhsam, 1960
• Rhipicephalus glabroscutatum Du Toit, 1941
• Rhipicephalus guilhoni Morel & Vassiliades, 1963
• Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides Supino, 1897
• Rhipicephalus hoogstraali Kolonin, 2009
• Rhipicephalus humeralis Rondelli, 1926
• Rhipicephalus hurti Wilson, 1954
• Rhipicephalus interventus Walker, Pegram & Keirans, 1995
• Rhipicephalus jeanneli Neumann 1913
• Rhipicephalus kochi Dönitz, 1905
• Rhipicephalus kohlsi Hoogstraal & Kaiser, 1960
• Rhipicephalus leporis Pomerantsev, 1946
• Rhipicephalus longiceps Warburton 1912
• Rhipicephalus longicoxatus Neumann, 1905
• Rhipicephalus longus Neumann, 1907
• Rhipicephalus lounsburyi Walker, 1990
• Rhipicephalus lunulatus Neumann 1907
• Rhipicephalus maculatus Neumann, 1901
• Rhipicephalus masseyi Nuttall & Warburton 1908
• Rhipicephalus microplus Canestrini, 1888 – southern cattle tick
• Rhipicephalus moucheti Morel, 1965
• Rhipicephalus muehlensi Zumpt, 1943
• Rhipicephalus muhsamae Morel & Vassiliades, 1965
• Rhipicephalus neumanni Walker, 1990
• Rhipicephalus nitens Neumann, 1904
• Rhipicephalus oculatus Neumann 1901
• Rhipicephalus oreotragi Walker & Horak, 2000
• Rhipicephalus pilans Schulze, 1935
• Rhipicephalus planus Neumann, 1907
• Rhipicephalus praetextatus Gerstäcker, 1873
• Rhipicephalus pravus Dönitz, 1910
• Rhipicephalus pseudolongus Santos Dias, 1953
• Rhipicephalus pulchellus Gerstäcker, 1873
• Rhipicephalus pumilio Schulze, 1935
• Rhipicephalus punctatus Warburton 1912
• Rhipicephalus pusillus Gil Collado, 1936
• Rhipicephalus ramachandrai Dhanda, 1966
• Rhipicephalus rossicus Yakimov & Kol-Yakimova, 1911
• Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille, 1806 – brown dog tick
• Rhipicephalus scalpturatus Santos Dias, 1959
• Rhipicephalus schulzei Olenev 1929
• Rhipicephalus sculptus Warburton 1912
• Rhipicephalus senegalensis Koch, 1844
• Rhipicephalus serranoi Santos Dias 1950
• Rhipicephalus simpsoni Nuttall 1910
• Rhipicephalus simus Koch, 1844
• Rhipicephalus sulcatus Neumann, 1908
• Rhipicephalus supertritus Neumann, 1907
• Rhipicephalus theileri Bedford & Hewitt, 1925
• Rhipicephalus tricuspis Dönitz, 1906
• Rhipicephalus turanicus Pomerantsev 1936
• Rhipicephalus warburtoni Walker & Horak, 2000
• Rhipicephalus zambeziensis Walker, Norval & Corwin, 1981
• Rhipicephalus zumpti Santos Dias, 1950

Etymology

The name Rhipicephalus is derived from the Greek word "rhiphis", meaning "fan-like", and "kephalos", meaning "head". The two terms, "fan-like" and "head" are related to the hexagonal basis capituli of Rhipicephalus.

References

1. Olwoch, J. M., et al. (2007). Climate change and the genus Rhipicephalus (Acari: Ixodidae) in Africa. Onderstepoort J Vet Res 74(1), 45-72.
2. Beati, L. and J. E. Keirans. (2001). Analysis of the systematic relationships among ticks of the genera Rhipicephalus and Boophilus (Acari: Ixodidae) based on mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA gene sequences and morphological characters. The Journal of Parasitology 87(1), 32.
3. Rhipicephalus. Tick Identification Key. University of Lincoln.
4. Apanaskevich, D. A., et al. 2013. A new species of Rhipicephalus (Acari: Ixodidae), a parasite of red river hogs and domestic pigs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of Medical Entomology 50(3), 479-84.

External links

• Guglielmone, A. A., et al. (2010). The Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae (Acari: Ixodida) of the world: A list of valid species names. Zootaxa (2528), 1-28.

Further reading

• Horak, I. G.; et al. (2000). The Genus Rhipicephalus (Acardi, Ixodidae): A Guide to the Brown Ticks of the World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 0-521-48008-6.