''Ornithodoros moubata'', commonly known as the African hut tampan or the eyeless tampan, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...

in the family

Argasidae The Argasidae are the family of soft ticks, one of the three families of ticks. The family contains 193 species, although the composition of the genera is less certain, and more study is needed before the genera can become stable. The currently a ...

. It is an

ectoparasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

and

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

relapsing fever Relapsing fever is a vector-borne disease caused by infection with certain bacteria in the genus ''Borrelia'', which is transmitted through the bites of lice or soft-bodied ticks (genus ''Ornithodoros''). Signs and symptoms Most people who are ...

in humans, and

African swine fever ''African swine fever virus'' (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the '' Asfarviridae'' family. It is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF). The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; ...

in pigs.

Description

Soft ticks in the family

are characterised by the mouth being on the underside, and thus not visible from above, and by having no rigid

scutum The ''scutum'' (; plural ''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formati ...

, the

sclerotised Sclerotin is a component of the cuticle of various Arthropoda, most familiarly insects. It is formed by cross-linking members of particular classes of protein molecules, a biochemical process called sclerotization, a form of tanning in which qui ...

plate on the

anterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

surface, just posterior to the head, possessed by hard ticks. This species has a leathery, wrinkled dorsal surface covered with small nodules. It has no eyes, and lacks a "suture line" at the junction of the dorsal and ventral surfaces. It has long mouthparts, armed with large, backward-pointing barbs for piercing a host's skin. The female grows to about long and the male to .

Distribution

This species occurs in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, but mainly in wildlife reserves. They also occur in southern Sudan, Somalia and southern Ethiopia, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad, and infrequently in West Africa.

Lifecycle

The lifecycle of ''O. moubata'' involves several nymphal stages and one adult stage. Each of these stages requires a blood meal, suitable

hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places *Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman *Michel Host ( ...

being humans, poultry, and members of the pig family,

Suidae Suidae is a family of artiodactyl mammals which are commonly called pigs, hogs or swine. In addition to numerous fossil species, 18 extant species are currently recognized (or 19 counting domestic pigs and wild boars separately), classified into ...

. When the nymph or adult has engorged itself, it drops off its host and enters a quiescent state while the blood is digested. When ready to feed again, it finds another host for this purpose. Adult females lay a batch of eggs, which hatch into larvae that develop into the first nymphal stage.

Relapsing fever

Relapsing fever Relapsing fever is a vector-borne disease caused by infection with certain bacteria in the genus ''Borrelia'', which is transmitted through the bites of lice or soft-bodied ticks (genus ''Ornithodoros''). Signs and symptoms Most people who are ...

in humans is a

-borne disease caused by infection with certain

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

in the genus ''

Borrelia ''Borrelia'' is a genus of bacteria of the spirochete phylum. Several species cause Lyme disease, also called Lyme borreliosis, a zoonotic, vector-borne disease transmitted by ticks. Other species of ''Borrelia'' cause relapsing fever, and are tr ...

''. It is transmitted through the

bites Biting is a common zoological behavior involving the active, rapid closing of the jaw around an object. This behavior is found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but can also exist in arthropods. Myocytic cont ...

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...

or soft-bodied ticks (genus ''

Ornithodoros ''Ornithodoros'' is a genus in the soft-bodied tick family, Argasidae. Physiology The opening between the midgut and hindgut has been lost, making the ticks unable to pass digestive waste products out of their bodies. Taxonomy The Linnean nam ...

''). Human body lice are less common than in the past, because of better living conditions and the use of insecticides, and ticks may now be the main vectors for these bacteria. Each species of ''Borrelia'' is typically associated with a single tick species, with '' Borrelia duttoni'' being transmitted by ''O. moubata'', and being responsible for the relapsing fever found in central, eastern, and southern Africa. Unlike in most other species of ''Borrelia'', which have

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s as reservoir hosts, ''B. duttoni'' has humans as reservoir hosts.

African swine fever

is a

-borne disease of

domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

warthogs ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly co ...

, and

bushpig :''"Bush pig" may also refer to the red river hog. The bushpig (''Potamochoerus larvatus'') is a member of the pig family that inhabits forests, woodland, riverine vegetation and cultivated areas in East and Southern Africa. Probably introduce ...

s, caused by infection with the

African swine fever virus ''African swine fever virus'' (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the '' Asfarviridae'' family. It is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF). The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; ...

and carried by ''O. moubata''. In wild members of the family Suidae, the disease seems symptomless, but in domestic pigs, it causes a haemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates. Transmission can be by tick bite or by eating infected tissues.

Other infections

Other infections that can survive inside this tick include

West Nile virus West Nile virus (WNV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family ''Flaviviridae'', from the genus ''Flavivirus'', which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. The virus ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. Fo ...

, Royal Farm virus, Langat virus, ''

Rickettsia ''Rickettsia'' is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci (0.1 μm in diameter), bacilli (1–4 μm long), or threads (up to about 10 μm long). The term "rickett ...

'', '' Babesia equi'', and ''

Acanthocheilonema viteae ''Acanthocheilonema'' is a genus within the family Onchocercidae which comprises mainly tropical parasitic worms. Cobbold created the genus ''Acanthocheilonema'' with only one species, ''Acanthocheilonema dracunculoides'', which was collected fr ...

'', but only some of these can be transmitted by the ticks to humans. Although HIV-1BRU can remain viable in the tick's digestive tract for up to ten days, this is a shorter interval than the tick normally takes between blood meals, and laboratory tests indicate that mechanical transmission of HIV is unlikely.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7103639 Ticks Argasidae Animals described in 1877