A Taxonomic Study On Ixodid Ticks In Junggar Basin

Objectt: Ticks attached to the Arthropoda, Arachnida, Acari, Parasitiformes, Ixodoida, are not only as blood-sucking ectoparasites of terrestrial vertebrates, but also as vectors and reservoirs of many important natural focus infection diseases of humans and animals. Besides acting as vectors, the direct effects of ticks have great economic importance for the stockbreeding in the whole world since tick bite marks diminishes the value of skins and hides. So, there are very substantial significance of tick research in in veterinary science, medicine and Economics. The Junggar Basin, located in north of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is a natural focus of insect-borne diseases. In this article, Therefoe, the taxonomic study on Ixodid ticks in Junggar Basin can provides theoretical foundation for the prevention and control of tick and tick-borne diseases.Methods:(1) Ticks were collected in and around Junggar Basin.(2) Preliminary morphological identifieation were conducted towards the collected ticks.(3) The total DNA was extracted, from3pairs of Ixodid ticks, Hyalomma asiaticum asiaticum and Hyalomma asiaticum kozlovi, Hyalomma detritum and Hyalomma scupense, Dermacentor nuttalli and Dermacentor silvarum, collected from Junggar Basin of Xinjiang, ITS2gene nucleic acid sequences of primers were designed and the ITS2sequences of these species were analyzed with bioinformatics software, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed.Results:(1) A total of19466ticks belonging to21species of5genera were collected and identifies, they are Ixodes persulcatus, Haemaphysalis danieli, Haemaphysalis einaceituranica, Haemaphysalis punctata, Haemaphysalis sulcata, Rhipicephalus schulzei, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus pumilio, H. asiaticum asiaticum, H. asiaticum kozlovi, H. detritum detritum, H. scupense, Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, Hyalomma rufipes, Dermacentor niveus, Dermacentor marginatus, D. nuttalli, D. silvarum, Dermacentor abaensis and Dermacentor pavlovskyi. Dpavlovskyi was first reported in Xinjiang.(2) It has been recognized that the fragment length of ITS2sequence in both H. asiaticum asiaticum and H. asiaticum kozlovi’were1458bp with3variant sites,2of base deletion/insertion, and the homology reached to99%; while the fragment length of ITS2sequence in both H. detritum and H. scupense were1561bp with12variant sites, the homology reached also to99%. And the the fragment length of ITS2sequence in D. nuttalli was1111bp, and what in D. silvarum was1110bp, there were1of base deletion/insertion and7variant sites. The C+G contents of ITS2sequence in the14Ixodes ticks were61.2～62.7%. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that H. asiaticum asiaticum and H. asiaticum kozlovi, and H detritum and H. scupense were respectively clustered in different branches of phylogenetic tree, and the both branches were then clustered together with H. dromedarri and H. anatolicum anatolicum. D. niveus and D. marginatus, D. nuttalli and D. silvarum were respectively clustered in different branches of phylogenetic tree. Ticks of Hyalomma, Dermacetor and Rhipicephalus were clustered together forming a big branch, and those of Haemaphysalis forms alone another big branch.Conclusion:19466ticks, belonging to21species of5genera,were collected and identifies, and this result was accorded with the records of Ixodes ticks in Xinjiang. Of them Dermacentor nuttalli, Hyalomma asiaticum asiaticum,Dermacentor niveus and Hyalomma asiaticum kozlovi were the dominant species. ITS2provided appropriate genetic markers for the genetic variation studies of ticks in Hyalomma and Dermacentor genera.