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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Ticks in Australia: endemics; exotics; which ticks bite humans?

Stephen C Barker A C D and Dayana Barker B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Discipline of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia

B School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia

C Tel: +61 7 3365 3303

D Email: s.barker@uq.edu.au

Microbiology Australia 39(4) 194-199 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA18062
Published: 2 November 2018

Abstract

At least 71 species of ticks occur in Australia; a further 33 or so species are endemic to its neighbours, New Guinea and New Zealand. The ticks of Australia and other parts of Australasia are phylogenetically distinct. Indeed, there are at least two lineages of ticks that are unique to Australasia: the genus Bothriocroton Klompen, Dobson & Barker, 2002; and the new genus Archaeocroton Barker & Burger, 2018. Two species of ticks that are endemic to Australia are notorious for feeding on humans: (i) Ixodes holocyclus, the eastern paralysis tick, in eastern Australia; and (ii) Amblyomma triguttatum triguttatum, the ornate kangaroo tick, in Western Australia, at one place in South Australia, and in parts of Queensland. Three of the other endemic species of ticks that feed on humans in Australia are also noteworthy: (i) Bothriocroton hydrosauri, the southern reptile tick, which is a vector of Rickettsia honei (Flinders Island spotted fever); (ii) Haemaphysalis novaeguineae, the New Guinea haemaphysalid; and (iii) Ornithodoros capensis, the seabird soft tick. Here, we present images of female Ixodes holocyclus, Amblyomma t. triguttatum, Bothriocroton hydrosauri and Haemaphysalis novaeguineae and our latest maps of the geographic distributions of Ixodes holocyclus, Amblyomma t. triguttatum and Bothriocroton hydrosauri. None of the five exotic species of ticks in Australia typically feed on humans.


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