Ixodes ghilarovi Filippova & Panova, 1988

Fedorov, Denis & Hornok, Sándor, 2024, Checklist of hosts, illustrated geographical range, and ecology of tick species from the genus Ixodes (Acari, Ixodidae) in Russia and other post-Soviet countries, ZooKeys 1201, pp. 255-343 : 255-343

Ixodes ghilarovi Filippova & Panova, 1988

Ixodes ghilarovi Filippova & Panova, 1988: 212.

Recorded hosts.

Mammalia: Apodemus flavicollis Melchior (yellow-necked field mouse), Chionomys gud Satunin (Caucasian snow vole), Chionomys nivalis (Martins) (European snow vole), Microtus daghestanicus (Shidlovsky) (Daghestan pine vole), Nothocricetulus migratorius (Pallas) (grey dwarf hamster), Sorex raddei Satunin (Radde’s shrew) ( Filippova and Panova 1989; Filippova and Stekol’nikov 2007).

Recorded locations

(Fig. 4 ). Russia: Dagestan – the valley of the Akhtychay River which is the right tributary of the Samur River near the confluence of these rivers, ~ 1000 m a. s. l. and at the same location near rural locality Khnov, ~ 1700 m a. s. l.; the valley of the Avar Koysu River, ~ 1000 m a. s. l. ( Filippova and Panova 1989); Kabardino-Balkaria, Bezengi gorge – 1550–2500 m a. s. l. and Karachay-Cherkessia – 1900–2200 m a. s. l. ( Filippova and Stekol’nikov 2007). Georgia: Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, Kazbegi Municipality, outskirts of the hamlet Suatisi, 2200 m a. s. l. ( Filippova and Panova 1989).

Ecology and other information.

Ixodes ghilarovi is the second representative of the subgenus Filippoviella in the Palearctic tick fauna together with I. trianguliceps but known at the current moment exclusively from several locations of the Caucasus ( Filippova and Panova 1988). The species was found only in rocky biotopes on the slopes containing xerophilous herbaceous-shrub vegetation consisting of many endemics of Southern Dagestan ( Filippova and Panova 1989).

Further investigations of this poorly studied tick species are of undoubted interest. Ixodes ghilarovi has certain common structural features with the African species I. alluaudi , for example the presence of auriculae, especially visible in nymphs of both species ( Filippova 2010); molecular analysis is also necessary to obtain more data on interspecific connections of these ticks and inside the subgenus in general. The host-parasite relations of I. ghilarovi and its distribution and habitats are probably wider than it is known today. The seasonality of I. ghilarovi and its role as a vector of tick-borne infections remain unknown.

The type specimens of I. ghilarovi are deposited at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and include the holotype: nymph; Russia, 25, Daghestan, Samur Mt. Range, near Akhty Village, River Akhtychay valley, ~ 1000 m a. s. l., Chionomys gud, Sat. , 24. 5. 1980, coll. I. V. Panova; FBM 610 a, 610 b and the paratypes: 4 nymphs; FBM I 610 a, I 610 b. Description – Filippova and Panova 1989: 419–421 (female, larva; male unknown) ( Filippova 2008).

Figures

Figure 4. Map of Russia and neighboring countries showing the locations where Ixodes ghilarovi was reported.