Haemaphysalis elliptica ( Koch, 1844a )

Guglielmone, Alberto A., Petney, Trevor N. & Robbins, Richard G., 2020, Ixodidae (Acari: Ixodoidea): descriptions and redescriptions of all known species from 1758 to December 31, 2019, Zootaxa 4871 (1), pp. 1-322 : 161

44. Haemaphysalis elliptica ( Koch, 1844a) .

An Afrotropical species whose adults are usually found on Carnivora : Canidae and Felidae . All parasitic stages have been collected on Carnivora , Canidae , Felidae and Viverridae ; adults have also been recovered from Mammalia (several orders). Nymphs and larvae have been taken from Carnivora : Herpestidae and Rodentia : Muridae ; nymphs alone have been found on Macroscelidea : Macroscelididae and undetermined immature stages have been collected on Passeriformes : Cisticolidae and Ploceidae . Haemaphysalis elliptica is a sporadic parasite of humans ( Guglielmone & Robbins 2018, Horak et al. 2018).

M: Koch (1844a), under the name Rhipistoma ellipticum , and given its current status in Camicas et al. (1998)

F: Apanaskevich et al. (2007)

N: Apanaskevich et al. (2007)

L: Bedford (1934), under the name Haemaphysalis leachi , as explained in Apanaskevich et al. (2007) Redescriptions

M: Apanaskevich et al. (2007), Horak et al. (2018)

F: Horak et al. (2018)

N: none

L: none

Note: Haemaphysalis elliptica was extensively confused with Haemaphysalis leachi prior to the study of Apanaskevich et al. (2007). See also Haemaphysalis spinulosa for a discussion of the difficulties involved in identifying species in the Haemaphysalis leachi group of southern Africa.