Laniger bat tick (Ixodes lanigeri), new hard tick species (Ixodidae) from mouse-eared bats (Myotis) in Vietnam

NEWS - Researchers have identified Ixodes ticks from Vietnam based on morphological and molecular characteristics of females, nymphs and larvae as a new species, laniger bat tick (Ixodes lanigeri), which like other members of the Ixodes ariadnae complex appears to show a preference for vesper bats as a typical host.

Historically, for more than a century and a half, only one species has been called the “long-legged bat tick”: Ixodes vespertilionis Koch. However, over the past decade, it has been molecularly recognized that long-legged ixodid ticks associated with bats may represent at least six species.

Host associations and geographic separation may explain the evolutionary divergence of the new species from its closest living relative Murina hilgendorfi Peters in East Asia, Japan, as no Myotis or Murina spp. have overlapping distributions between Vietnam and the Japanese mainland.

On the other hand, assuming that I. lanigeri may be present in other myotine bats and knowing that some Myotis species native to Vietnam have a wide geographic range in South and Southeast Asia, this new tick species is likely to have a wider distribution.

I. lanigeri is a medium-sized, light brown, prostrate tick with a teardrop-shaped female body. Legs are long. The bases of the capituli are pentagonal dorsally, the palps are short and the hypostome is medium-sized. The scutum is inverted pentagonal, widest in the middle, rounded posteriorly, with a long, deep and curved cervical groove.

Pairwise comparisons showed 5.1% divergence of the cox1 gene sequence and 2.9% of the 16S rRNA from I. fujitai and 11.18% divergence of the cox1 gene sequence and 5.7% of the 16S rRNA from I. ariadnae. There are only 2 bp differences in the amplification of the cox1 and 16S rRNA genes between larvae, nymphs and females of I. lanigeri. The complete mitogenome of I. lanigeri is 95.4% identical to that of I. fujitai.

Known host species are Myotis alticraniatus and M. laniger. Known geographic range is northern Vietnam. The new species name refers to the host species, Chinese water myotis (M. laniger) from which the first specimen of the new species was obtained.

Original research

Hornok S, Kontschán J, Takano A, Gotoh Y, Hassanin A, Tu VT (2024). Description of Ixodes lanigeri sp. nov., a new hard tick species (Acari, Ixodidae) collected from mouse-eared bats (Vespertilionidae, Myotis) in Vietnam. ZooKeys 1215: 107-125, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1215.123624

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