title: Phylogenetic analysis of Haemaphysalis erinacei Pavesi, 1884 (Acari: Ixodidae) from China, Turkey, Italy and Romania.
abstract: Haemaphysalis erinacei is one of the few ixodid tick species for which valid names of subspecies exist. Despite their disputed taxonomic status in the literature, these subspecies have not yet been compared with molecular methods. The aim of the present study was to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of H. erinacei subspecies, in the context of the first finding of this tick species in Romania.
  
  
  
  After morphological identification, DNA was extracted from five adults of H. e. taurica (from Romania and Turkey), four adults of H. e. erinacei (from Italy) and 17 adults of H. e. turanica (from China). From these samples fragments of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and 16S rRNA genes were amplified via PCR and sequenced. Results showed that cox1 and 16S rRNA gene sequence divergences between H. e. taurica from Romania and H. e. erinacei from Italy were below 2%. However, the sequence divergences between H. e. taurica from Romania and H. e. turanica from China were high (up to 7.3% difference for the 16S rRNA gene), exceeding the reported level of sequence divergence between closely related tick species. At the same time, two adults of H. e. taurica from Turkey had higher 16S rRNA gene similarity to H. e. turanica from China (up to 97.5%) than to H. e. taurica from Romania (96.3%), but phylogenetically clustered more closely to H. e. taurica than to H. e. turanica.
  
  
  
  This is the first finding of H. erinacei in Romania, and the first (although preliminary) phylogenetic comparison of H. erinacei subspecies. Phylogenetic analyses did not support that the three H. erinacei subspecies evaluated here are of equal taxonomic rank, because the genetic divergence between H. e. turanica from China and H. e. taurica from Romania exceeded the usual level of sequence divergence between closely related tick species, suggesting that they might represent different species. Therefore, the taxonomic status of the subspecies of H. erinacei needs to be revised based on a larger number of specimens collected throughout its geographical range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary. hornok.sandor@univet.hu.
authors.forename: Sándor
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5449-8615
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hornok
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China.
authors.forename: Yuanzhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Health and Welfare of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Otranto
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Gaziosmanpasa University, Tasliciftlik-Tokat, Turkey.
authors.forename: Adem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Health and Welfare of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo Paolo
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Lia
authors.affiliation: Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Jenő
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kontschán
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Nóra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takács
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Róbert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Attila D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Sándor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D026863:Ixodidae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012383:Romania; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: 16S rRNA gene; Haemaphysalis, cox1 gene; Phylogenetics; Phylogeography; Tick