First record of the sea snake tick Amblyomma nitidum Hirst and Hirst, 1910 (Acari: Ixodidae) from Taiwan

Mackenzie L Kwak; Chi-Chien Kuo; Ho-Tsung Chu

doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101383

First record of the sea snake tick Amblyomma nitidum Hirst and Hirst, 1910 (Acari: Ixodidae) from Taiwan

Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2020 May;11(3):101383. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101383. Epub 2020 Jan 25.

Authors

Mackenzie L Kwak¹, Chi-Chien Kuo², Ho-Tsung Chu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Science, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, 117558, Singapore. Electronic address: mackenziekwak@gmail.com.
² Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Hualien Forest District Office, Forest Bureau, Council of Agriculture, Hualien, Taiwan.

PMID: 32057704
DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101383

Abstract

The sea snake tick (Amblyomma nitidum) is a host specialist of snakes in the genus Laticauda and is one of the few ticks which could be regarded as semi-marine. Yet despite the attention this species has received due to its bizarre ecology, its distribution remains poorly known as geographic records of its occurrence through the Asia-Pacific are highly fragmentary. For the first time this species is recorded from Taiwan based on specimens collected from the yellow-lipped sea krait (Laticauda colubrina).

Keywords: Amblyomma; Laticauda colubrina; Museum; Taiwanese; reptile.

MeSH terms

Animal Distribution*
Animals
Hydrophiidae / parasitology*
Ixodidae / physiology*
Male
Taiwan
Tick Infestations / parasitology