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Chitimia-Dobler L, Handschuh S, Dunlop JA, Pienaar R, Mans BJ. Nuttalliellidae in Burmese amber: implications for tick evolution. Parasitology 2024:1-17. [PMID: 38623697 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182024000477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Ticks are composed of 3 extant families (Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae) and 2 extinct families (Deinocrotonidae and Khimairidae). The Nuttalliellidae possess one extant species (Nuttalliella namaqua) limited to the Afrotropic region. A basal relationship to the hard and soft tick families and its limited distribution suggested an origin for ticks in the Afrotropics. The Deinocrotonidae has been found in Burmese amber from Myanmar and Iberian amber from Spain, suggesting a wider distribution of the lineage composed of Deinocrotonidae and Nuttalliellidae. The current study describes 8 fossils from mid-Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma) Burmese amber: 2 Deinocroton species (Deinocroton bicornis sp. nov.; Deinocroton lacrimus sp. nov.), 5 Nuttalliella species (Nuttalliella gratae sp. nov., Nuttalliella tuberculata sp. nov., Nuttalliella placaventrala sp. nov., Nuttalliella odyssea sp. nov., Nuttalliella tropicasylvae sp. nov.) and a new genus and species (Legionaris nov. gen., Legionaris robustus sp. nov.). The argument is advanced that Deinocroton do not warrant its own family, but forms part of the Nuttalliellidae comprising 3 genera, Deinocroton, Legionaris nov. gen. and Nuttalliella). Affinities of Burmese tick fossils to the Australasian region, specifically related to rifting of the Burma terrane from northern Australia ~150 million years ago, suggest that Nuttalliella had a much wider distribution than its current limited distribution. The distribution of Nuttalliella likely stretched from Africa over Antarctica and much of Australia, suggesting that extant members of this family may still be found in Australia. Considerations for the geographic origins of ticks conclude that an Afrotropic origin can as yet not be discarded.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidia Chitimia-Dobler
- Department of Rickettsiology and Virology, Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany
- Department of Infection and Pandemic Research, Fraunhofer Institute of Immunology, Infection and Pandemic Research, Penzberg, Germany
| | - Stephan Handschuh
- VetCore Facility for Research / Imaging Unit, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jason A Dunlop
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ronel Pienaar
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort, South Africa
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | - Ben J Mans
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort, South Africa
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
- Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
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Jalovecka M, Sojka D, Ascencio M, Schnittger L. Babesia Life Cycle - When Phylogeny Meets Biology. Trends Parasitol 2019; 35:356-368. [PMID: 30733093 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2019.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 01/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Although Babesia represents an important worldwide veterinary threat and an emerging risk to humans, this parasite has been poorly studied as compared to Plasmodium, its malaria-causing relative. In fact, Babesia employs highly specific survival strategies during its intraerythrocytic development and its intricate journey through the tick vector. This review introduces a substantially extended molecular phylogeny of the order Piroplasmida, challenging previous taxonomic classifications. The intriguing developmental proficiencies of Babesia are highlighted and compared with those of other haemoparasitic Apicomplexa. Molecular mechanisms associated with distinctive events in the Babesia life cycle are emphasized as potential targets for the development of Babesia-specific treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Jalovecka
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic; Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, CZ-370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
| | - Daniel Sojka
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Mariano Ascencio
- Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas (CICVyA), INTA-Castelar, Los Reseros y Nicolas Repetto s/n, Hurlingham 1686, Argentina; National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1033AAJ, Argentina
| | - Leonhard Schnittger
- Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas (CICVyA), INTA-Castelar, Los Reseros y Nicolas Repetto s/n, Hurlingham 1686, Argentina; National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1033AAJ, Argentina
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Abstract
Improved understanding of tick phylogeny has allowed testing of some biogeographical patterns. On the basis of both literature data and a meta-analysis of available sequence data, there is strong support for a Gondwanan origin of Ixodidae, and probably Ixodida. A particularly strong pattern is observed for the genus Amblyomma, which appears to have originated in Antarctica/southern South America, with subsequent dispersal to Australia. The endemic Australian lineages of Ixodidae (no other continent has such a pattern) appear to result from separate dispersal events, probably from Antarctica. Minimum ages for a number of divergences are determined as part of an updated temporal framework for tick evolution. Alternative hypotheses for tick evolution, such as a very old Pangean group, a Northern hemisphere origin, or an Australian origin, fit less well with observed phylogeographic patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenza Beati
- Institute for Coastal Plain Science and US National Tick Collection, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460, USA;
| | - Hans Klompen
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology and Museum of Biological Diversity, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA
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Mans BJ, Featherston J, Kvas M, Pillay KA, de Klerk DG, Pienaar R, de Castro MH, Schwan TG, Lopez JE, Teel P, Pérez de León AA, Sonenshine DE, Egekwu NI, Bakkes DK, Heyne H, Kanduma EG, Nyangiwe N, Bouattour A, Latif AA. Argasid and ixodid systematics: Implications for soft tick evolution and systematics, with a new argasid species list. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2018; 10:219-240. [PMID: 30309738 DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2018] [Revised: 07/02/2018] [Accepted: 09/22/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The systematics of the genera and subgenera within the soft tick family Argasidae is not adequately resolved. Different classification schemes, reflecting diverse schools of scientific thought that elevated or downgraded groups to genera or subgenera, have been proposed. In the most recent classification scheme, Argas and Ornithodoros are paraphyletic and the placement of various subgenera remains uncertain because molecular data are lacking. Thus, reclassification of the Argasidae is required. This will enable an understanding of soft tick systematics within an evolutionary context. This study addressed that knowledge gap using mitochondrial genome and nuclear (18S and 28S ribosomal RNA) sequence data for representatives of the subgenera Alectorobius, Argas, Chiropterargas, Ogadenus, Ornamentum, Ornithodoros, Navis (subgen. nov.), Pavlovskyella, Persicargas, Proknekalia, Reticulinasus and Secretargas, from the Afrotropical, Nearctic and Palearctic regions. Hard tick species (Ixodidae) and a new representative of Nuttalliella namaqua (Nuttalliellidae), were also sequenced with a total of 83 whole mitochondrial genomes, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA genes generated. The study confirmed the utility of next-generation sequencing to retrieve systematic markers. Paraphyly of Argas and Ornithodoros was resolved by systematic analysis and a new species list is proposed. This corresponds broadly with the morphological cladistic analysis of Klompen and Oliver (1993). Estimation of divergence times using molecular dating allowed dissection of phylogeographic patterns for argasid evolution. The discovery of cryptic species in the subgenera Chiropterargas, Ogadenus and Ornithodoros, suggests that cryptic speciation is common within the Argasidae. Cryptic speciation has implications for past biological studies of soft ticks. These are discussed in particular for the Ornithodoros (Ornithodoros) moubata and Ornithodoros (Ornithodoros) savignyi groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben J Mans
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa; Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, University of South Africa, South Africa.
| | - Jonathan Featherston
- The Biotechnology Platform, Agricultural Research Council-Biotechnology Platform, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Marija Kvas
- The Biotechnology Platform, Agricultural Research Council-Biotechnology Platform, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Kerry-Anne Pillay
- The Biotechnology Platform, Agricultural Research Council-Biotechnology Platform, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Daniel G de Klerk
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Ronel Pienaar
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Minique H de Castro
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Tom G Schwan
- Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, MT, United States
| | - Job E Lopez
- Department of Paediatrics, National School of Tropical Medicine, Paediatric Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Pete Teel
- Department of Entomology, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
| | - Adalberto A Pérez de León
- USDA-ARS Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory and Veterinary Pest Genomics Center, Kerrville, TX, United States
| | - Daniel E Sonenshine
- Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, United States; Vector Biology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH), Rockville, MD, United States
| | - Noble I Egekwu
- Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., United States
| | - Deon K Bakkes
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Heloise Heyne
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
| | - Esther G Kanduma
- Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, P.O BOX 30197, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Nkululeko Nyangiwe
- Döhne Agricultural Development Institute, Private Bag X15, Stutterheim, 4930, South Africa
| | - Ali Bouattour
- Laboratoire d'Entomologie, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Abdalla A Latif
- School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, Westville, South Africa
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parasitised feathered dinosaurs as revealed by Cretaceous amber assemblages. Nat Commun 2017; 8:1924. [PMID: 29233973 PMCID: PMC5727220 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01550-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2017] [Accepted: 09/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Ticks are currently among the most prevalent blood-feeding ectoparasites, but their feeding habits and hosts in deep time have long remained speculative. Here, we report direct and indirect evidence in 99 million-year-old Cretaceous amber showing that hard ticks and ticks of the extinct new family Deinocrotonidae fed on blood from feathered dinosaurs, non-avialan or avialan excluding crown-group birds. A †Cornupalpatum burmanicum hard tick is entangled in a pennaceous feather. Two deinocrotonids described as †Deinocroton draculi gen. et sp. nov. have specialised setae from dermestid beetle larvae (hastisetae) attached to their bodies, likely indicating cohabitation in a feathered dinosaur nest. A third conspecific specimen is blood-engorged, its anatomical features suggesting that deinocrotonids fed rapidly to engorgement and had multiple gonotrophic cycles. These findings provide insight into early tick evolution and ecology, and shed light on poorly known arthropod-vertebrate interactions and potential disease transmission during the Mesozoic.
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Dunlop JA, Apanaskevich DA, Lehmann J, Hoffmann R, Fusseis F, Ehlke M, Zachow S, Xiao X. Microtomography of the Baltic amber tick Ixodes succineus reveals affinities with the modern Asian disease vector Ixodes ovatus. BMC Evol Biol 2016; 16:203. [PMID: 27724841 PMCID: PMC5057450 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-016-0777-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2016] [Accepted: 09/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fossil ticks are extremely rare and Ixodes 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 tick Ixodes ricinus (Linneaus, 1758). RESULTS Restudy using phase contrast synchrotron x-ray tomography yielded images of exceptional quality. These confirm the fossil's referral to Ixodes Latreille, 1795, but the characters resolved here suggest instead affinities with the Asian subgenus Partipalpiger Hoogstraal et al., 1973 and its single living (and medically significant) species Ixodes ovatus Neumann, 1899. We redescribe the amber fossil here as Ixodes (Partipalpiger) succineus. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that Ixodes ricinus is unlikely to be directly derived from Weidner's amber species, but instead reveals that the Partipalpiger lineage was originally more widely distributed across the northern hemisphere. The closeness of Ixodes (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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason A. Dunlop
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Dmitry A. Apanaskevich
- United States National Tick Collection, The James H. Oliver, Jr. Institute for Coastal Plain Science, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8056 USA
| | - Jens Lehmann
- Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, D-28357 Bremen, Germany
| | - René Hoffmann
- Department of Earth Sciences, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Institute of Geology, Mineralogy, and Geophysics, D-44801 Bochum, Germany
| | - Florian Fusseis
- School of Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JW UK
| | - Moritz Ehlke
- Medical Planning Group, Zuse Institute Berlin, Department Visualization and Data Analysis, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefan Zachow
- Medical Planning Group, Zuse Institute Berlin, Department Visualization and Data Analysis, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Xianghui Xiao
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Ave, Lemont, IL 60439 USA
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Mans BJ, de Castro MH, Pienaar R, de Klerk D, Gaven P, Genu S, Latif AA. Ancestral reconstruction of tick lineages. Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2016; 7:509-35. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2016.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Revised: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 02/02/2016] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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Mans BJ, de Klerk D, Pienaar R, de Castro MH, Latif AA. Next-generation sequencing as means to retrieve tick systematic markers, with the focus on Nuttalliella namaqua (Ixodoidea: Nuttalliellidae). Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2015; 6:450-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2015.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2014] [Revised: 03/06/2015] [Accepted: 03/08/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Barker SC, Walker AR, Campelo D. A list of the 70 species of Australian ticks; diagnostic guides to and species accounts of Ixodes holocyclus (paralysis tick), Ixodes cornuatus (southern paralysis tick) and Rhipicephalus australis (Australian cattle tick); and consideration of the place of Australia in the evolution of ticks with comments on four controversial ideas. Int J Parasitol 2014; 44:941-53. [PMID: 25236960 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2014.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Revised: 08/08/2014] [Accepted: 08/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Seventy species of ticks are known from Australia: 14 soft ticks (family Argasidae) and 56 hard ticks (family Ixodidae). Sixteen of the 70 ticks in Australia may feed on humans and domestic animals (Barker and Walker 2014). The other 54 species of ticks in Australia feed only on wild mammals, reptiles and birds. At least 12 of the species of ticks in Australian also occur in Papua New Guinea. We use an image-matching system much like the image-matching systems of field guides to birds and flowers to identify Ixodes holocyclus (paralysis tick), Ixodes cornuatus (southern paralysis tick) and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) australis (Australian cattle tick). Our species accounts have reviews of the literature on I. holocyclus (paralysis tick) from the first paper on the biology of an Australian tick by Bancroft (1884), on paralysis of dogs by I. holocyclus, to papers published recently, and of I. cornuatus (southern paralysis tick) and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) australis (Australian cattle tick). We comment on four controversial questions in the evolutionary biology of ticks: (i) were labyrinthodont amphibians in Australia in the Devonian the first hosts of soft, hard and nuttalliellid ticks?; (ii) are the nuttalliellid ticks the sister-group to the hard ticks or the soft ticks?; (iii) is Nuttalliella namaqua the missing link between the soft and hard ticks?; and (iv) the evidence for a lineage of large bodied parasitiform mites (ticks plus the holothyrid mites plus the opiliocarid mites).
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen C Barker
- Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.
| | - Alan R Walker
- Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, EH25 9RG Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Dayana Campelo
- Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION As an ecological adaptation venoms have evolved independently in several species of Metazoa. As haematophagous arthropods ticks are mainly considered as ectoparasites due to directly feeding on the skin of animal hosts. Ticks are of major importance since they serve as vectors for several diseases affecting humans and livestock animals. Ticks are rarely considered as venomous animals despite that tick saliva contains several protein families present in venomous taxa and that many Ixodida genera can induce paralysis and other types of toxicoses. Tick saliva was previously proposed as a special kind of venom since tick venom is used for blood feeding that counteracts host defense mechanisms. As a result, the present study provides evidence to reconsider the venomous properties of tick saliva. RESULTS Based on our extensive literature mining and in silico research, we demonstrate that ticks share several similarities with other venomous taxa. Many tick salivary protein families and their previously described functions are homologous to proteins found in scorpion, spider, snake, platypus and bee venoms. This infers that there is a structural and functional convergence between several molecular components in tick saliva and the venoms from other recognized venomous taxa. We also highlight the fact that the immune response against tick saliva and venoms (from recognized venomous taxa) are both dominated by an allergic immunity background. Furthermore, by comparing the major molecular components of human saliva, as an example of a non-venomous animal, with that of ticks we find evidence that ticks resemble more venomous than non-venomous animals. Finally, we introduce our considerations regarding the evolution of venoms in Arachnida. CONCLUSIONS Taking into account the composition of tick saliva, the venomous functions that ticks have while interacting with their hosts, and the distinguishable differences between human (non-venomous) and tick salivary proteins, we consider that ticks should be referred to as venomous ectoparasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz
- Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille (CIIL), INSERM U1019 – CNRS UMR 8204, Université Lille Nord de France, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Lille, France
- SaBio. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC-CSIC-UCLM-JCCM, Ciudad Real 13005, Spain
| | - James J Valdés
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
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