| Bothriocroton hydrosauri | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Light micrograph of female Bothriocroton hydrosauri | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Ixodida |
| Family: | Ixodidae |
| Genus: | Bothriocroton |
| Species: | B. hydrosauri |
| Binomial name | |
| Bothriocroton hydrosauri | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Bothriocrotonhydrosauri, commonly known as the southern reptile tick, [1] is a hard-bodied tick species endemic to Australia. [2]
Bothriocroton hydrosauri is distributed across southern Australia, with populations in southeastern New South Wales to the Eyre Peninsula, Tasmania, and along the southwestern Western Australia coast, from Esperance to Margaret River. Under current phylogenetic classifications, B. hydrosauri specimens are not found above 33°S. [3]
Bothriocroton hydrosauri is a generalist reptile tick, infesting a variety of Australian lizards and snakes. Rarely, they can parasitise humans. B. hydrosauri is a vector of Rickettsia honei, which causes Flinders Island spotted fever. [4]
Bothriocroton hydrosauri is a constitutive species of the three-tick problem of Austral ecology. The phenomenon sees the geographic distributions of three reptile ticks - Amblyomma limbatum, Bothriocroton hydrosauri and Amblyomma albolimbatum - inexplicably remaining allopatric despite their proximity around Bundey Bore Station, South Australia. [5]
Bothriocroton hydrosauri, like all Bothriocroton , tend to be large, rounded ticks. B. hydrosauri has paired stout dentition in triplicate (3/3), with large, circular porose areas and a characteristically pilose alloscutum in the female, and ventral plaques with moderate conscutal punctation in the male. [6] Adult females are also characterised by the whitish enamel spot at the apex of the scutum, which is present in most specimens.
Bothriocroton hydrosauri is very similar to its sister species, B. tachyglossi - the two species were synonymised for some time, and their distinction remains contentious. [7]
Bothriocroton hydrosauri is named for what was thought to be its original type host. Denny mistakenly interpreted the description of the host, noted as a "Guana" (sic. "Goanna"), to mean Hydrosaurus gouldii. [2] Varanid lizards, which the term 'goanna' usually refers to, are not present in Tasmania, the type locality. The type host was most likely Tiliqua nigrolutea, which was sometimes also referred to as a 'goanna', and is a more common host of the tick. [8]