Amblyomma pomposum Dönitz, 1909

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 : 115

100. Amblyomma pomposum Dönitz, 1909 .

An Afrotropical species whose adults are usually found on Artiodactyla : Bovidae . Adult ticks alone have been recovered from Mammalia (several orders); immature stages have also been collected from Bovidae , and from Carnivora : Felidae , Primates : Cercopithecidae , Squamata : Agamidae , and Ciconiiformes : Ciconiidae . There are no bona fide records of Amblyomma pomposum feeding on humans.

M: Dönitz (1909)

F: Dönitz (1909)

N: Borght-Elbl (1977); see note below

L: Eastwood (1971)

Redescriptions

M: Robinson (1926), Santos Dias (1953b), Hoogstraal (1956a), Tendeiro (1963), Elbl and Anastos (1966a), Voltzit and Keirans (2003), Walker A.R. et al. (2003); see note below

F: Robinson (1926), Santos Dias (1953b), Hoogstraal (1956a), Tendeiro (1963), Elbl and Anastos (1966a), Voltzit and Keirans (2003), Walker A.R. et al. (2003); see note below

N: none

Note: a consensus concerning the identity of Amblyomma pomposum has proved to be elusive, with authors such as Matthysse and Colbo (1987) following Theiler (1962) in considering this species established in “Rhodesian Highland vegetation,” and northern records of Amblyomma pomposum treated as “heavily punctate Amblyomma variegatum ,” which, in turn, casts some doubt on the correct identification of Amblyomma variegatum . Guglielmone and Robbins (2018) also emphasized disagreements among authors concerning the geographical distribution of Amblyomma pomposum . Camicas et al. (1998) believe that the redescription of Amblyomma pomposum in Robinson (1926) corresponds, in fact, to Amblyomma variegatum . The redescriptions above differ significantly, especially with respect to the degree of punctation of the male scutum, and the review of Voltzit and Keirans (2003) contains discrepancies between text and figures with regard to the hypostomal dentition of male and female Amblyomma pomposum . Moreover, the description of the nymph of Amblyomma pomposum in Borght-Elbl (1977) is not recognized by Voltzit and Keirans (2003). Under the current definition of Amblyomma pomposum , all descriptions and redescriptions, apart from the original descriptions, contain some measure of uncertainty. Additional studies are needed to reach an unambiguous definition of this species.