Microtomography of the Baltic amber tick Ixodes succineus reveals affinities with the modern Asian disease vector Ixodes ovatus. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dunlop, Jason; Apanaskevich, Dmitry; Lehmann, Jens; Hoffmann, René; Fusseis, Florian; Ehlke, Moritz; Zachow, Stefan; Xiao, Xianghui
• Is Part Of: BMC evolutionary biology. Volume 16:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Arachnida -- Parasitiformes -- Ixodida -- Parasite -- Vector -- Eocene -- Baltic amber; Evolution (Biology) -- Periodicals; 576.805
• DOI: 10.1186/s12862-016-0777-y
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-2148

Abstract

Abstract Background Fossil ticks are extremely rare andIxodes succineus Weidner, 1964 from Eocene (ca. 44–49 Ma) Baltic amber is one of the oldest examples of a living hard tick genus (Ixodida: Ixodidae). Previous work suggested it was most closely related to the modern and widespread European sheep tickIxodes ricinus (Linneaus, 1758). Results Restudy using phase contrast synchrotron x-ray tomography yielded images of exceptional quality. These confirm the fossil's referral toIxodes Latreille, 1795, but the characters resolved here suggest instead affinities with the Asian subgenusPartipalpiger Hoogstraal et al., 1973 and its single living (and medically significant) speciesIxodes ovatus Neumann, 1899. We redescribe the amber fossil here asIxodes (Partipalpiger )succineus . Conclusions Our data suggest thatIxodes ricinus is unlikely to be directly derived from Weidner's amber species, but instead reveals that thePartipalpiger lineage was originally more widely distributed across the northern hemisphere. The closeness ofIxodes (P. )succineus to a living vector of a wide range of pathogens offers the potential to correlate its spatial and temporal position (northern Europe, nearly 50 million years ago) with the estimated origination dates of various tick-borne diseases.