New host records for ticks (Acari : Ixodidae) from the echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) revealed in Australian museum survey
Anna-Sheree Krige
A , Siew-May Loh A and Charlotte L. Oskam A B
A Vector and Waterborne Pathogens Research Group, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: c.oskam@murdoch.edu.au
Australian Journal of Zoology 65(6) 379-382 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO18018
Submitted: 14 March 2018 Accepted: 28 June 2018 Published: 12 July 2018
Abstract
A nationwide survey was conducted for ticks (Ixodidae) removed from echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus (Shaw, 1792), that had been previously collected between 1928 and 2013, and archived within Australian national (Australian National Insect Collection, Australian Capital Territory) and state (Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia) natural history collections. A total of 850 ticks from 89 T. aculeatus hosts were morphologically identified to determine instar, sex and species. Seven larvae, 349 nymphs and 494 adults were identified; 235 were female and 259 were male. The most common tick species was Bothriocroton concolor (Neumann, 1899) (89.2%). In addition, ticks previously recorded from T. aculeatus were identified, including Amblyomma australiense Neumann, 1905 (1.8%), Amblyomma echidnae Roberts, 1953 (0.1%), Bothriocroton hydrosauri (Denny, 1843) (1.4%), Bothriocroton tachyglossi (Roberts, 1953) (1.5%) and Ixodes tasmani Neumann, 1899 (1.2%). For the first time, 22 Amblyomma fimbriatum Koch, 1844 (2.6%) and 19 Amblyomma triguttatum Koch, 1844 (2.2%) ticks were recorded from T. aculeatus. This is the first survey to utilise archived Australian tick collections for the purpose of acquiring new data on tick species that parasitise T. aculeatus.
Additional keywords: archive, Australia.
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