Rhipicephalus

Rhipicephalus is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks, consisting of about 74 or 75 species. Most are native to tropical Africa.
Rhipicephalus ticks are commonly called 'the brown tick' as they are mostly brown in colour. Most adult ticks in this genus do not have colour patterns on their scutum (inornate). This makes the species difficult to distinguish from one another because most are quite similar, but individuals of one particular species can be quite variable. Ticks have traditionally been identified by examination of distinctive morphological features. Most of the characteristics used to identify species pertain to male specimens. The immature and female specimens are sometimes simply impossible to identify due to the lack of differential morphological features.
Many Rhipicephalus spp. are of economic, medical, and veterinary importance because of their blood feeding lifestyle. They are possible vectors of many pathogens in humans and animals. They can transmit pathogens that cause animal and human diseases, such as East Coast fever, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, rickettsiosis, Boutonneuse fever, Lyme disease, Q fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever. In addition to the infectious agents spread by ticks, tick bites can lead to allergic and toxic reactions. A toxic reaction occur when they inject a neurotoxin with their bite that leads to tick-caused paralysis.
Boophilus was once considered a separate genus, but studies in the early 2000s resulted in Boophilus being made a subgenus of Rhipicephalus. Although Boophilus has been included in the Rhipicephalus genus, their morphology is different from the typical Rhipicephalus species.
Species familiar in the domestic environment include the brown dog tick (R. sanguineus).
Etymology
The name Rhipicephalus is derived from the Greek word rhiphis, meaning "fan-like", and κεφαλή, kephalē, meaning "head". The two terms are related to the hexagonal basis capituli of Rhipicephalus.
Epidemiology
Rhipicephalus bursa is a carrier of babesiosis, theileriosis and anaplasmosis in domestic animals, of the Nairobi sheep disease, and an aggressive vector of the agents of the Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever and of the Q fever.
Species
Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neumann 1901 – brown ear tick
Rhipicephalus aquatilis Walker, Keirans & Pegram, 1993
Rhipicephalus armatus Pocock, 1900
Rhipicephalus arnoldi Theiler & Zumpt, 1949
Rhipicephalus australis Fuller, 1899
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
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 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 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
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 tetracornus Kitaoka & Suzuki, 1983
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
Subgenus Boophilus
Rhipicephalus annulatus Say, 1821
Rhipicephalus decoloratus Koch, 1844
Rhipicephalus geigyi Aeschlimann & Morel, 1965
Rhipicephalus kohlsi Hoogstraal & Kaiser, 1960
Rhipicephalus microplus Canestrini, 1888 – southern cattle tick
References
Further reading
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.
Ticks
Taxa named by Carl Ludwig Koch
Ixodidae