title: Diagnoses of and illustrated key to the species of Ixodes Latreille, 1795 (Acari: Ixodidae) from Brazil.
abstract: The current Brazilian Ixodes fauna is composed of the following eight species: I. amarali Fonseca, 1935; I. aragaoi Fonseca, 1935; I. auritulus Neumann, 1904; I. fuscipes Koch, 1844; I. loricatus Neumann, 1899; I. luciae Sénevet, 1940; I. paranaensis Barros-Battesti, Arzua, Pichorim & Keirans, 2003; and I. schulzei Aragão & Fonseca, 1951. Further studies are needed to establish the taxonomic status of I. serrafreirei Amorim, Gazeta, Bossi & Linhares, 2003, a recently proposed species based solely on the nymphal stage. We present an up-to-date key to adults of the currently valid Brazilian species of Ixodes based on scanning electron microscopy. The relationships between Brazilian and other Neotropical Ixodes are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Parasitologia, Instituto Butantan, Av. Vital Brasil 1500, 05503-900, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. valcastilho@butantan.gov.br
authors.forename: Valeria Castilho
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Onofrio
authors.forename: Darci Moraes
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Barros-Battesti
authors.forename: Marcelo Bahia
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Labruna
authors.forename: João Luiz Horácio
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Faccini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D018884:Ixodes / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning