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

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

They are found across 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]

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. ^[4] A Rickettsia bellii sequence of unknown pathogenicity has been previously identified in three B. concolor. ^{[5] [6]}

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. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.