Bothriocroton are large (2-7mm), round ticks. Their mouthparts are long, with lateral palpal margins narrower than their basis capitulum. They are further characterised by a posterior anal groove, and absence of sclerotised adanal plates. They have no eyes.
The reported synapomorphy for Bothriocroton is three pairs of large wax glands on segment VIII of the larvae.[9][10]
Etymology
"Bothriocroton" comes from the Greek: bothros, meaning pitted; and krótos, meaning tick.[11] Many Bothriocroton ticks are highly punctate, particularly on the male conscutum.
Taxonomy
Bothriocroton is a relatively new genus. It was first a subgenus, described in 1994 with reference to Bothriocroton glebopalma, which had distinctive characters delineating the species from other what was then Aponomma subgenera. Nuclear rDNA analysis subsequently demonstrated that the heterogenous Aponomma genus was polyphyletic,[12] and Bothriocroton was raised to full generic rank to accommodate a class of former Aponomma.[1]
↑ Barker, Stephen; Barker, Dayana (2023). Ticks of Australasia: 125 species of ticks in and around Australia. Auckland, New Zealand: Zootaxa, Magnolia Press. p.12. ISBN978-1-77688-700-2.
↑ Stenos, John; Graves, Stephen; Popov, Vsevolod L.; Walker, David H. (2003). "Aponomma hydrosauri, the reptile-associated tick reservoir of Rickettsia honei on Flinders Island, Australia". The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 69 (3): 314–317. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2003.69.314. ISSN0002-9637. PMID14628950.
↑ Neumann, Louis Georges (1910). "Description of new species of Ixodidae". Journal of Entomology. 53: 11–17.
↑ Schulze, Paul (1936). New and little-known Amblyomma and Aponomma samples from Africa, South America, India, Borneo and Australia (Ixodidae) (in German). Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde. pp.619–637.
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