The taxonomic status of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806)

NAVA S, ESTRADA-PEÑA A, PETNEY T, BEATI L, LABRUNA MB, SZABÓ MPJ, VENZAL JM, MASTROPAOLO M, MANGOLD AJ, GUGLILELMONE AA

VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 208 p. 202 - 208

0304-4017

tThe brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu stricto, is a species with considerablepublic health and economic importance. However, the taxonomic status of this species is farfrom resolved. After more than 110 years of scientific work on R. sanguineus s.s., the situationis that there is no type, no solid description, nor is there a consensus about the range ofmorphological variability within the species. Recent findings based on laboratory crossesand molecular genetics strongly suggest that there are several entities grouped under thesame name. Here we review the history of the taxon, and we point out the caveats behindany further work on this tick. The current taxonomic status of R. sanguineus s.s. thus lacksan informative original description, and is based on the existence of several morphologicaldescriptions based on ticks originating from different populations, which show, in somecases, biological incompatibility and significant genetic divergence. We suggests that asa result it is not possible to assign the specific name R. sanguineus s.s. to any population.Further work is required based on the rules issued by the International Code of ZoologicalNomenclature to clearly define the morphological range of the different populations.