An updated checklist of ticks and mites (Acari) reported on reptiles of Türkiye: New records and new host-parasite associations

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 12 - 41, 30.01.2025

Gökhan Eren , Mustafa Açıcı

https://doi.org/10.47121/acarolstud.1554694

Abstract

Reptiles are terrestrial tetrapods with a cosmopolitan distribution worldwide, with a diversity of more than 10,000 species. Due to this diversity, there are many interactions with both animals and humans within the ecosystem. Naturally, the reptiles affect the life cycle of many ectoparasites that transmit pathogenic or nonpathogenic agents to humans and animals. In this study, it was aimed to reveal the ectoparasitic fauna of reptiles commonly found in Sakarya, Samsun, and Artvin provinces between 2021 and 2023. The study examined 1021 individuals in 26 different host species (tortoise, gecko, lizards and snakes). At the end of the examination, the tick specimens were identified as Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus) and Hyalomma aegyptium (Linneaus); mite specimens were identified as Hemilaelaps farrieri (Tibbetts), Ophionyssus natricis (Gervais), Op. saurarum (Oudemans), Odontacarus efferus Kudryashova, Od. hushchai Kudryashova, Od. naumovi Kudryashova and Rybin, Od. saxicolis Schluger, Huschcha and Kudryashova, Lacertacarus callosus (Schluger), L. similis Schluger and Vasilieva, and Geckobia turkestana Hirst. Among these ectoparasites, H. farrieri, Od. efferus, Od. hushchai, Od. naumovi and Od. saxicolis were detected on reptiles for the first time in Türkiye. In addition, ectoparasitic species detected in the studies conducted to date on reptiles in Türkiye are also listed in the appendix section.

Keywords

Faunistic records, Hemilaelaps, Odontacarus, reptile ectoparasites

Ethical Statement

This study was approved for field research by the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, based on the permissions dated 9/9/2020 and numbered 49933177-663.08-E.88314, and by the Local Ethics Committee for Animal Experiments of Ondokuz Mayıs University, with the decision number 2020/60 dated 26/11/2020.

Supporting Institution

This study was supported by Ondokuz Mayıs University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit with project number PYO.VET.1904.21.022.

Project Number

PYO.VET.1904.21.022

Thanks

The authors are grateful to Dr. Alexandr A. Stekolnikov (Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia) for assistance about identifying of the chigger mites (Acari: Trombiculidae).

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