Bothriocroton hydrosauri

Bothriocroton hydrosauri
Light micrograph of female Bothriocroton hydrosauri
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Bothriocroton
Species:	B. hydrosauri
Binomial name
Bothriocroton hydrosauri Denny, 1843

Bothriocrotonhydrosauri, commonly known as the southern reptile tick ^[1] , is a hard-bodied tick species endemic to Australia. ^[2]

Ecology

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]

Identification

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]

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]

References

1. "Bothriocroton hydrosauri (Denny, 1843)". Atlas of Living Australia . Retrieved 29 May 2025.
2. Denny, Henry (1843-11-01). "XXXVIII.—Description of Six supposed new species of Parasites". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 12 (78): 312–316. doi:10.1080/03745484309442530. ISSN   0374-5481.
3. Bull, C. M. (1985). "Geographical Variation in the Morphology of Aponomma Hydrosauri (denny) (acari: Ixodidae)". Australian Journal of Entomology. 24 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.1985.tb00176.x. ISSN   1440-6055.
4. 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. ISSN   0002-9637.
5. Teo, Ernest J. M.; Bull, C. Michael; Burzacott, Dale; Zalucki, Myron P.; Furlong, Michael J.; Barker, Dayana; Barker, Stephen C. (2023). "The abundance and geographic distributions of two species of ticks in South Australia: Bundey Bore revisited". Austral Ecology. 48 (3): 563–584. doi:10.1111/aec.13284. ISSN   1442-9993.
6. Andrews, R. H.; Beveridge, I.; Bull, C. M.; Chilton, N. B.; Dixon, B.; Petney, T. (2006-03-20). "Systematic status of Aponomma tachyglossi Roberts (Acari: Ixodidae) from echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus, from Queensland, Australia". Systematic and Applied Acarology: 23–39. doi:10.11158/saa.11.1.3. ISSN   2056-6069.
7. Beati, Lorenza; Keirans, James E.; Durden, Lance A.; Opiang, Muse D. (2008-03-01). "Bothriocroton oudemansi (Neumann, 1910) n. comb. (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae), an ectoparasite of the western long-beaked echidna in Papua New Guinea: redescription of the male and first description of the female and nymph". Systematic Parasitology. 69 (3): 185–200. doi:10.1007/s11230-007-9115-5. ISSN   1573-5192.