Morphological abnormalities in Hyalomma dromedarii and Hyalomma rufipes (Acari: Ixodidae) collected from dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Aswan, Egypt

Abstract

The present study reports anomalies in Hyalomma dromedarii and Hyalomma rufipes adults collected from dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Aswan, Egypt, between January and June 2022. A total of 52 adult ticks displayed one or several local and/or general anomalies. A wide variety of local anomalies was observed including atrophy of one or multiple legs, ectromely, absence of accessory adanal and subanal plates, fusion of adanal and accessory plates, and presence of sclerotized formation in the ventral plate, as well as abnormalities of the spiracle, anal groove, festoon, parma, and posteromedian groove. General anomalies comprised of asymmetries and gynandromorphism. Local anomalies were documented among H. dromedarii and H. rufipes, whereas general anomalies were documented only from H. dromedarii. The present work represents the first report of deuterogynander intrigue gynandromorphism in H. dromedarii, as well as the first report of morphological abnormalities in H. dromedarii and H. rufipes from Egypt.

Molecular identification and morphological variations of Amblyomma lepidum imported to Egypt, with notes about its potential distribution under climate change

“…Though this is the first report of local anomalies in A. lepidum from Egypt, a previous study from Uganda (Balinandi et al 2019 ) has reported local and general anomalies for the same species. Morphological abnormalities and anomalies in Hyalomma dromedarii and H. rufipes in ticks from Egypt have previously been observed in the country (Okely et al 2022a ). The observation of anomalous ticks in Egypt in this study and the previous one (Okely et al 2022a ) may be due to antiparasitic treatments used in Egypt.…”

“…Morphological abnormalities and anomalies in Hyalomma dromedarii and H. rufipes in ticks from Egypt have previously been observed in the country (Okely et al 2022a ). The observation of anomalous ticks in Egypt in this study and the previous one (Okely et al 2022a ) may be due to antiparasitic treatments used in Egypt. Mutations resulting from antiparasitic treatments such as insecticides and acaricides that hard ticks are exposed to may give rise to morphologically anomalous ticks (Luz et al 2023 ).…”