Hyalomma (Hyalommina) brevipunctata Sharif 1928
Creators: name: Apanaskevich, Dmitry A.
name: Horak, Ivan G.
name: Geevarghese, Geevarghese
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Ixodida
Ixodidae
Hyalomma
Hyalomma brevipunctata

description: Hyalomma (Hyalommina) brevipunctata Sharif, 1928
(Figs. 1–6)
Type specimens. Syntypes (male and female; not quantified) ex dog from Anantapur in the Madras Presidency [now Andhra Pradesh State, India]; deposited in the Indian Museum, reg. № 56/18 (Kolkata, India) (p. 318, Sharif 1928).
Material studied. A total of 77 males, 46 females, 6 nymphs and 24 larvae that were collected in India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were examined in the present study.
Synonym. Hyalomma hussaini var. brevipunctata Sharif, 1928
Description. Male (Figs. 1, 2)
Conscutum (Fig. 1): length 2.16–2.98 (2.52 ± 0.24, n = 34), width 1.20–1.73 (1.48 ± 0.14, n = 34), ratio length:width 1.51–1.87 (1.70 ± 0.08, n = 34); red-brown; fairly dense large and medium-sized punctations mainly on anterior part of conscutum, and on caudal and lateral fields, sparse, fine punctations on central part of conscutum. Spiracular plate (Fig. 2 C): perforated portion of prolongation moderately broad.
Female (Figs. 3, 4)
Scutum (Fig. 3): length 1.45–2.05 (1.78 ± 0.14, n = 30), width 1.42–1.91 (1.64 ± 0.13, n = 30), ratio length:width 1.00–1.17 (1.08 ± 0.04, n = 30); red-brown; moderately dense large punctations mainly on cervical and anterior part of central fields; moderately dense medium-sized and small punctations evenly distributed on lateral and central fields. Genital structures (Fig. 4 A): genital aperture narrow, arcuate (Ushaped) with arcuate or straight posterior margin; vestibular portion of vagina markedly bulging; preatrial fold of genital aperture bulging anteriorly and sharply sloping posteriorly (Fig. 4 B).
Nymph (Fig. 5)
Scutum (Fig. 5 A): length 548–644 (609±42.29, n=5), width 477–533 (512±21.48, n=5), ratio length:width 1.14–1.23 (1.19±0.04, n=5), distance between posterior margin of eyes and posterior margin of scutum 215–238 (230±10.67, n=5), width:length of posterior portion of scutum 2.14–2.37 (2.23±0.09, n=5); posterolateral depressions on either side of scutal extremity absent.
Basis capituli (Figs. 5 D, E): length 372–432 (402±26.32, n=5); width 328–362 (346±14.79, n=5), ratio length:width 1.13–1.19 (1.16±0.03, n=5); ventrally lateral saliences slightly convex without spur. Palpi (segment II) (Figs. 5 D, E): length 154–178 (168±9.32, n=5), width 45–48 (47±1.41, n=5), ratio length:width 3.21–3.87 (3.57±0.29, n=5). Hypostome (Fig. 5 E): length 168–196 (182±13.04, n=5), width 40–48 (44±3.16, n=5), ratio length:width 4.04–4.26 (4.14±0.09, n=5); tapering at apex; 7 large denticles in median file. Coxae (Fig. 5 F): coxae II with moderate spur.
Larva (Fig. 6)
Scutum (Fig. 6 A): length 220–240 (233±4.81, n=24), width 308–328 (317±5.44, n=24), ratio length:width 0.70–0.77 (0.74±0.02, n=24), distance from posterior margin of eyes to posterior margin of scutum 52–60 (57±2.23, n=24), ratio width:length of posterior portion 5.13–6.08 (5.52±0.22, n=24). Portion of scutum posterior to eyes nearly equal to 1/4 of scutal length.
Basis capituli (Figs. 6 B, C): length 144–160 (153±3.39, n=24), width 152–162 (157±2.91, n=23), ratio length:width 0.94–1.01 (0.98±0.02, n=23). Palpi (segments II and III) (Figs. 6 B, C): length 109–114 (112±1.57, n=24), width 34–38 (36±0.78, n=24), ratio length:width 2.89–3.26 (3.12±0.08, n=24). Hypostome (Fig. 6 C): length 84–90 (86±1.55, n=24), width 20–22 (21±0.93, n=24), ratio length:width 3.82–4.40 (4.12±0.18, n=24); 6 large denticles in median file.
Genu I: length 118–134 (128±3.92, n=24), width 42–48 (44±1.68, n=15), ratio length:width 2.50–3.19 (2.95±0.17, n=15).
Hosts. The main hosts of the adults are large and medium-sized domestic and wild ungulates: cattle, buffaloes, goats, camels, sheep, horses, chital, Axis axis (Erxleben), nilgai, Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas), sambar, Cervus unicolor Kerr and an antelope. The adults have also been recorded from domestic dogs, tiger, Panthera tigris (Linnaeus) and humans (our data; Sharif 1928; Kaiser & Hoogstraal 1964; Miranpuri & Naithani 1978; Mitchell 1979; Geevarghese & Dhanda 1987).
The main hosts of the immature stages of H. brevipunctata are various rodents and other small mammals. They have been recorded from Asian house shrew, Suncus murinus (Linnaeus), Blanford’s rat, Cremnomys blanfordi (Thomas), Cutch rat, Cremnomys cutchicus Wroughton, house rat, Rattus rattus (Linnaeus), Tanezumi rat, Rattus tanezumi Temminck, soft-furred rat, Millardia meltada (Gray), greater bandicoot rat, Bandicota indica (Bechstein), Asiatic long-tailed climbing mouse, Vandeleuria oleracea (Bennett), flat-haired mouse, Mus platythrix Bennett, little Indian field mouse, Mus booduga (Gray), rock-loving mouse, Mus saxicola Elliot, Indian gerbil, Tatera indica (Hardwicke) and jungle palm squirrel, Funambulus tristriatus (Waterhouse) (Singh & Dhanda 1965; Rebello & Reuben 1967; Kaul et al. 1979; Geevarghese & Dhanda 1987).
Geographic distribution. Asia: India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (our data; Sharif 1928; Kaiser & Hoogstraal 1964; Mitchell 1979; Geevarghese & Dhanda 1987; Dilrukshi 2006). Collection lot of the USNTC [RML 98964 (HH 58217), consisting of 2 males and 3 females, Burma, Pegu, Rangoon abattoir, ex domestic goat, December 1975, San-San Lin leg.] previously identified as H. hussaini, but we have reidentified them as H. brevipunctata. This is the first record of this species from Myanmar.
description: Published as part of Apanaskevich, Dmitry A., Horak, Ivan G. & Geevarghese, Geevarghese, 2009, The genus Hyalomma Koch, 1844. VIII. Redescription of three Hyalommina Schulze, 1919 species (Acari: Ixodidae) from South Asia with notes on their biology, pp. 31-55 in Zootaxa 2050 on pages 34-37, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.186557