Posted by Vector and Vector-borne Disease Committee
December 1, 2022
LH Backus, JE Foley et al. Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases 13(6):102020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.102020
Abstract [condensed]
Ixodes (Ixodes) mojavensis, n. sp. (Acari: Ixodidae), is described from all parasitic stages collected from the endangered vole Microtus californicus scirpensis Bailey, 1900 (Rodentia: Cricetidae), Mus musculus L. 1758 (Rodentia: Muridae), and Reithrodontomys megalotis (Baird; 1857) (Rodentia: Cricetidae) in the Amargosa Valley of California. When first collected in 2014, this tick was tentatively identified as Ixodes minor Neumann, 1902 because the nucleotide similarity between its 16S rDNA sequence and a homologous GenBank sequence from an I. minor from the eastern U.S. was 99.51%. Nevertheless, adults of I. mojavensis differ morphologically from I. minor by hypostomal dentition, absence of a spur on palpal segment I, and punctation patterns; nymphs by the shapes of basis capituli, auriculae, cervical grooves and external files of hypostomal denticles; and larvae by the length of idiosomal setae and hypostomal dentition. DNA sequencing of fragments of 4 different genes shows that the mitochondrial gene sequences are almost identical to the I. minor homologous genes. Phylogenetically, the two species do not cluster in mutually exclusive monophyletic clades.
Note: Ixodes mojavensis has only been collected from the Amargosa and Owens Valleys in California where it was found infected with a bacteria related to the non-pathogenic spirochete Borrelia carolinensis. The vector potential of I.mojavensis for human disease is currently unknown.