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Haemaphysalis

Haemaphysalis is a genus of hard ticks. It is the second largest genus in the family Ixodidae, after Ixodes, and the largest genus of the Metastriata. Haemaphysalis ticks are found on all continents and across all major zoogeographical regions, except Antarctica, although most species are found in the Oriental and Afrotropical regions. Approximately 80% of the species are present in Asia and Africa, with significantly less species diversity in Europe and the Americas. Haemaphysalis species primarily parasitise birds and mammals.

Description

Haemaphysalis are very small, elliptical ticks. They are best distinguished by the significant lateral salience on palpal article II, which extends beyond the margin of the basis capitulum. They are eyeless, with short mouthparts.

Taxonomy

Haemaphysalis contains 170 species distributed across 8 subgenera (Aboimisalis, Aborphysalis, Allophysalis, Haemaphysalis, Herpetobia, Kaiseriana, Ornithophysalis, Segalia) although the phylogeny of the genus is unresolved, with most subgenera being polyphyletic. The former subgenera Alloceraea and Sharifiella have been recently elevated to full generic genus rank.

Species

Notes

References