Abstract
Ticks are hematophagous ectoparasites associated with a wide range of vertebrate hosts. Within this group, the Ixodidae family stands out, in which the Ixodes genus contains at least 245 species worldwide, from which 55 species are present in the Neotropical region. Ixodes affinis, a tick described in 1899, has a wide distribution from the Southern Cone of America to the United States. However, since its description, morphological variability has been reported among its populations. Furthermore, attempts have been made to clarify its status as a species complex using mitochondrial markers, but mainly in restricted populations of South and Central America. Thus, information related to populations of the transition region between the Neotropical and Nearctic zones is lacking. For these reasons, the objectives of the study were to evaluate the genetic diversity and structure of I. affinis across the Americas and to compile all the published records of I. affinis in America, to elucidate the host-parasite relationships and to identify their geographical distribution. For this, a phylogeny, and AMOVA analyses were performed to assess the genetic structure of samples obtained by field work in South Carolina, USA and Yucatán, Mexico. A total of 86 sequences were retrieved from a fragment of the 16S region. Phylogeny and genetic structure analysis showed four groups that were geographically and genetically related with high branch support and Fst values, all of them statistically significant. The results obtained support the hypothesis that I. affinis it corresponds to a complex of four species, which must be validated through future morphological comparisons.
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Data availability
The data that support the results of this study are available in GenBank, under the following accessions numbers I. affinis 16 s-rDNA (OR357724-OR357735 and OR751593-OR751608).
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To the local hunters and veterinarians who kindly donated the biological material.
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Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías CONAHCYT: CF-2023-G-174.
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Roger I. Rodríguez-Vivas: acquisition of data, conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript and final approval of the version to be submitted. Melina M. Ojeda-Chi: acquisition of data, revising it critically for important intellectual content, final approval of the version to be submitted. Alec T. Thompson: acquisition of data, revising it critically for important intellectual content, final approval of the version to be submitted. Michael J. Yabsley: acquisition of data, revising it critically for important intellectual content, final approval of the version to be submitted. Pablo Colunga-Salas: conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript and final approval of the version to be submitted. Sokani Sanchez-Montes: conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript and final approval of the version to be submitted.
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Rodríguez-Vivas, R.I., Ojeda-Chi, M.M., Thompson, A.T. et al. Population genetics of the Ixodes affinis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) complex in America: new findings and a host-parasite review. Parasitol Res 123, 78 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-08091-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-08091-z