Bothriocroton concolor

Bothriocroton concolor
Light micrograph of female Bothriocroton concolor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Bothriocroton
Species:	B. concolor
Binomial name
Bothriocroton concolor (Neumann, 1899) ex Tachyglossus aculeatus ; Queensland
Synonyms
Aponomma concolor(Neumann, 1899) Aponomma tropicum(Roberts, 1953)

Bothriocroton concolor, commonly known as the echidna tick, is a hard-bodied tick species endemic to Australia. ^[1]

A female echidna tick, Bothriocroton concolor, feeding on a short-beaked echidna

They are found across eastern coastal and subcoastal Australia, from Northern Queensland to Kangaroo Island.

As the name suggests, B. concolor has strict host specificity to echidnas, specifically the short-beaked echidna, Tachyglossus aculeatus. The exception is on Kangaroo Island, where B. concolor can be found on Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus, the Kangaroo Island subspecies of the Western grey kangaroo. ^[2]

Description

Bothriocroton concolor, like all Bothriocroton , tend to be large, rounded ticks. They are distinguishable by the presence of a conspicuous pointed spur projecting medially from distoventral palpal segment II. ^[3] Females often have pale colouring to the medial scutal aspect, and large bilateral punctations on the posterior of the lateral scutal aspects. In both sexes, the palps are more broad, dorsally, than in other Bothriocroton.

The species is the most common tick of echidnas in Australia. In central Queensland, it may be confused with B. tachyglossi, which is common on echidnas in that region. Other tick species that feed on echidnas include Amblyomma echidnae, Amblyomma australiense, Amblyomma moyi and Ixodes barkeri, but all of these are uncommon. ^[4]

Vector transmission

Bothriocroton concolor can host Borrelia tachyglossi, a bacterium related to, but distinct from Lyme disease and relapsing fever Borrelia. It is not known to be pathogenic to humans or other animals. ^[5] A Rickettsia bellii sequence of unknown pathogenicity has been previously identified in three B. concolor. ^{[6] [7]}

References

1. Neumann, G (1896). Révision de la famille des ixodidés. [Paris]: [s.n.] doi:10.5962/t.173870.
2. Oorebeek, M.; Rismiller, P. (2007). "Bothriocroton concolor (Acari: Ixodidae) on the Kangaroo Island kangaroo: a new host-parasite relationship". Journal of Medical Entomology. 44 (5): 901–902. doi:10.1603/0022-2585(2007)44[901:bcaiot]2.0.co;2. ISSN   0022-2585. PMID   17915525.
3. Roberts, F.H.S (1970). Australian Ticks. CSIRO.
4. Barker, Stephen C.; Barker, Dayana (2023-03-08). "Ticks of Australasia: 125 species of ticks in and around Australia". Zootaxa. 5253 (1): 1–670. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5253.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   37044756.
5. Loh, Siew-May; Gillett, Amber; Ryan, Una; Irwin, Peter; Oskam, Charlotte (2017-04-01). "Molecular characterization of 'Candidatus Borrelia tachyglossi' (family Spirochaetaceae) in echidna ticks, Bothriocroton concolor". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 67 (4): 1075–1080. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.001929. ISSN   1466-5026. PMC   5817193 . PMID   28475032.
6. Vilcins, Inger-Marie E.; Old, Julie M.; Deane, Elizabeth (2009). "Molecular detection of Rickettsia, Coxiella and Rickettsiella DNA in three native Australian tick species". Experimental & Applied Acarology. 49 (3): 229–242. doi:10.1007/s10493-009-9260-4. ISSN   1572-9702. PMID   19296229.
7. Hecht, Joy A.; Allerdice, Michelle E. J.; Krawczak, Felipe S.; Labruna, Marcelo B.; Paddock, Christopher D.; Karpathy, Sandor E. (2016-11-01). "Development of a Rickettsia bellii- Specific TaqMan Assay Targeting the Citrate Synthase Gene". Journal of Medical Entomology. 53 (6): 1492–1495. doi:10.1093/jme/tjw111. ISSN   0022-2585. PMC   11348388 . PMID   27473178.