Reticulinasus salahi (Acarina: Argasidae), a tick of bats and man in the Palaearctic and Afrotropics: review of records with the first pathogens detected

Abstract

The soft ticks of the genus Reticulinasus Schulze, 1941 (family Argasidae Koch, 1844) are ectoparasites of the fruit bats of the Old World (Pteropodidae). Reticulinasus salahi (Hoogstraal, 1953) is the only representative of this genus that occurs in the western part of the Palaearctic. This unusual distribution reflects the distributon range of its primary host, Rousettus aegyptiacus (Geoffroy, 1810). In this contribution, we present a revised review of records of this tick that were made in two periods, 1951–1966 (records from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Spain) and 2005–2019 (Cyprus, Iran, Oman), and additionally, we present notes, re-determinations, new records, and summary of hosts of this tick. Besides the primary host, the revised list of hosts comprises two bats (Taphozous perforatus Geoffroy, 1818, Otonycteris hemprichii Peters, 1859) and the human (Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758). We also tried to identify pathogens in specimens of this tick collected from R. aegyptiacus in Oman. The DNA of the Mouse herpesvirus strain 68 (MHV-68), of two bacteria, Borellia burgdorferii sensu lato, and Ehrlichia sp. almost identical (98%) with Candidatus Ehrlichia shimanensis was detected in several larvae specimens.

First records of Secretargas transgariepinus (Argasidae) in Libya and Jordan: corrections of collection records and detection of microorganisms

“…Indeed, a virus circulating in the bat blood would be ingested by the ticks (and detected by PCR in the tick DNA samples) even if the ticks might not be able to further transmit the virus to other hosts. Our results, like those of other studies involving bats and ectoparasites (Briestenská et al 2018 ; Janíková et al 2020 ; Ševčík et al 2023 ), cannot be interpreted for the time being. Laboratory transmission experiments will be required to elucidate whether or not S. transgariepinus ticks are competent vectors of MHV-68.…”

“…Laboratory transmission experiments will be required to elucidate whether or not S. transgariepinus ticks are competent vectors of MHV-68. Nevertheless, this represents the second geographical record of occurrence of this virus in the Middle East, after its discovery in Reticulinasus salahi in the Al Hotta Cave, Oman (Ševčík et al 2023 ).…”

“…transgariepinus from the Middle East, eight larvae from Azraq-Shishan, Jordan, was originally referred to as Ornithodoros ( Reticulinasus ) salahi by Saliba et al ( 1990 ). Ševčík et al ( 2023 : 1274, 1277) reidentified the host species as O. hemprichii , instead of the originally reported Myotis sp. (see also Atallah 1967 and Benda et al 2010 ).…”

“…P. Benda and A. Reiter; and seven larvae, originally identified as Ornithodoros salahi (Saliba et al 1990 : 164) and collected from a bat determined as Myotis sp. (later identified as Otonycteris hemprichii , see Atallah ( 1967 ), Benda et al ( 2010 ), and Ševčík et al ( 2023 )) of unidentified sex and age in Azraq-Shishan, Jordan, on May 2, 1966, leg. S. Atallah.…”

First records of Secretargas transgariepinus (Argasidae) in Libya and Jordan: corrections of collection records and detection of microorganisms

“…Indeed, a virus circulating in the bat blood would be ingested by the ticks (and detected by PCR in the tick DNA samples) even if the ticks might not be able to further transmit the virus to other hosts. Our results, like those of other studies involving bats and ectoparasites, (Briestenská et al 2018, Janíková et al 2020, Ševčík et al 2023) cannot be interpreted for the time being. Laboratory transmission experiments will be required to elucidate whether or not S. transgariepinus ticks are competent vectors of MHV-68.…”