Biology:Argasidae

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The Argasidae are the family of soft ticks, one of the three families of extant ticks. The family contains 220 species, although the composition of the genera is less certain, and more study is needed before the taxonomy is resolved.[1] The Argasidae are very common in South Asia, along with around 100 other species of ticks from other lineages, making South Asia the region with the highest biodiversity of ticks worldwide.[2] Soft ticks are resistant to desiccation and can live for several years in arid conditions.

Physical characteristics

Soft ticks lack the hard scutum present in the hard ticks (Ixodidae).[3] The gnathosoma (or capitulum, the mouthparts-bearing structure) is located on the underside of the animal's body and is not readily visible,[3] while in the Ixodidae, the gnathosoma projects forward from the body. The lateral edges of the body are rounded.

Systematics

Argasid systematics remain in flux. There have been as many as four major conflicting taxonomic 'schools' over time, which all conflict in some way with contemporary molecular phylogenies. As such, there is an ongoing research effort to align finds from molecular systematics with pre-existing morphological based species constructs. As of 2025, the most up-to-date classification scheme and species list follows from Mans et al. (2021), comprising 220 taxa in 17 genera:[4][5][6][7][lower-alpha 1]

Argasinae
Genera Subgenera # spp.
Alveonasus Neumann, 1908 (Alveonasus) 7
Argas Latreille, 1795 (Argas, Persicargas) 44
Navis Mans et al., 2019 (Navis) 1 (or 2?)
Ogadenus Neumann, 1907 (Ogadenus) 1
Proknekalia Keirans et al., 1977 (Proknekalia) 3
Secretargas Hoogstraal, 1957 (Secretargas) 3
59
Ornithodorinae
Genera Subgenera # spp.
Alectorobius Pocock, 1907 (Alectorobius) 64
Antricola Cooley & Kohls, 1942 (Antricola, Parantricola) 17
Apanaskevichiella Barker et al., 2025 1
Australpavlovskyella Barker et al., 2025 1
Carios Latreille, 1796 (Carios) 8
Chiropterargas Hoogstraal, 1955 (Chiropterargas) 4
Nothoaspis Keirans and Clifford, 1975 (Nothoaspis) 3
Ornithodoros C. L. Koch, 1837 (Microargas, Ornamentum, Ornithodoros, Pavlovskyella, Theriodoros) 46
Otobius Banks, 1912 (Otobius) 2
Reticulinasus Schulze, 1941 (Reticulinasus) 12
Subparmatus Clifford et al., 1964 (Subparmatus) 3
161

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Note 1: See the Supplementary material for complete species listings, in Mans et al. 2021 ("Appendix 1: Proposed revision for the Argasidae"), or earlier in Mans et al. 2019 ("Table S10: Revised species and subgenus classification for the Argasidae").

References

  1. ↑ Alberto A. Guglielmone; Richard G. Robbing; Dmitry A. Apanaskevich; Trevor N. Petney; Agustín Estrada-Peña; Ivan G. Horak; Renfu Shao; Stephen C. Barker (2010). "The Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae (Acari: Ixodida) of the world: a list of valid species names". Zootaxa 2528: 1–28. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2528.1.1. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/z02528p028f.pdf. Retrieved 2015-06-28. 
  2. ↑ Robbins, Richard G.; Petney, David A.; Muders, Senta V.; Putthasorn, Noppadon; Ahamad, Mariana; Andrews, Ross H.; Eamudomkarn, Chatanun; Pfeffer, Martin et al. (2019-02-17). "Ticks (Argasidae, Ixodidae) and tick-borne diseases of continental Southeast Asia" (in en). Zootaxa 4558 (1): 1–89. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4558.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 30790915. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 D. H. Molyneux (1993). "Vectors". in Francis E. G. Cox. Modern parasitology: a textbook of parasitology (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 53–74. ISBN 978-0-632-02585-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=jj18axV3TTAC&pg=PA6. 
  4. ↑ Mans, Ben J.; Kelava, Samuel; Pienaar, Ronel; Featherston, Jonathan; de Castro, Minique H.; Quetglas, Juan; Reeves, Will K.; Durden, Lance A. et al. (2021-07-01). "Nuclear (18S-28S rRNA) and mitochondrial genome markers of Carios (Carios) vespertilionis (Argasidae) support Carios Latreille, 1796 as a lineage embedded in the Ornithodorinae: re-classification of the Carios sensu Klompen and Oliver (1993) clade into its respective subgenera". Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 12 (4). doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101688. ISSN 1877-959X. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X21000418. 
  5. ↑ Mans, Ben J.; Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia; Pienaar, Ronel; de Castro, Minique; Khan, Mehran; Almutairi, Mashal M.; Alouffi, Abdulaziz; Ali, Abid (2024). "Mitochondrial genome and nuclear ribosomal RNA analysis place Alveonasus lahorensis within the Argasinae and suggest that the genus Alveonasus is paraphyletic". Parasitology 151 (9): 908–917. doi:10.1017/S0031182024000441. ISSN 1469-8161. PMID 38586995. 
  6. ↑ Mans, Ben J.; Featherston, Jonathan; Kvas, Marija; Pillay, Kerry-Anne; de Klerk, Daniel G.; Pienaar, Ronel; de Castro, Minique H.; Schwan, Tom G. et al. (2019-01-01). "Argasid and ixodid systematics: Implications for soft tick evolution and systematics, with a new argasid species list". Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 10 (1): 219–240. doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.09.010. ISSN 1877-959X. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X18301547. 
  7. ↑ Barker, Stephen C.; Kelava, Samuel; Shaw, Matthew D.; etc (2025). "Two new genera for the Australian species of the subgenus Pavlovskyella Pospelova-Shtrom, 1950 (genus Ornithodoros Koch, 1844) (Acari: Ixodida: Argasidae: Ornithodorinae): Apanaskevichiella gen. nov. for O. (P.) macmillani Hoogstraal & Kohls, 1966; and Australpavlovskyella gen. nov. for O. (P.) gurneyi Warburton, 1926.". Zootaxa 5686 (3): 339–372. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5686.3.2. 
  • Data related to Argasidae at Wikispecies

Wikidata ☰ Q640684 entry




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