''Rhipicephalus gertrudae'' 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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Ixodidae The Ixodidae are the family of hard ticks or scale ticks, one of the three families of ticks, consisting of over 700 species. They are known as 'hard ticks' because they have a scutum or hard shield, which the other major family of ticks, the 'sof ...

. Jane B. Walker, James E. Keirans, and Ivan G. Horak. ''The Genus ''Rhipicephalus'' (Acari, Ixodidae): A guide to the Brown Ticks of the World'', Cambridge University Press, https://books.google.com/books?id=M9fLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA193, pp. 193-199; "This species was named in honour of Dr Gertrud Theiler of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. In her day she was the doyenne of African tick workers. She is remembered with respect and gratitude, not only for her contributions to our understanding of these parasites but also for her readiness to share her knowledge and experience with others." The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honors

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

parasitologist Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it f ...

Dr.

Gertrud Theiler Gertrud Theiler (11 September 1897 – 2 May 1986) was a South African parasitologist and teacher most noted for her work with nematodes and ticks. Early life Born on 11 September 1897 in Pretoria, South Africa, Theiler graduated from Pretori ...

.Brouria Feldman-Muhsam. 1960. The South African Ticks ''Rhipicephalus capensis'' Koch and ''R. gertrudae'' n. sp. ''

Journal of Parasitology The ''Journal of Parasitology'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research on parasites published bimonthly by Allen Press on behalf of the American Society of Parasitologists. Content includes research articles, brief research notes, ann ...

'', 46(1):101-108; "We propose to call the new species ''R. gertrudae'' in honor of Dr. Gertrud Theiler, through whose courtesy most of our material was obtained." The species was first

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

by Dr. Brouria Feldman-Muhsam. ''Rhipicephalus gertrudae'' is moderate-sized, about 4 mm in length, heavily punctate, and reddish-brown in color. Adults are generalist

hematophagous Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious pro ...

parasites Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

feeding Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...

primarily on domestic and wild

herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

such as

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

; the immatures are specialist

parasites of

murid In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, '' pir'' or ''shaykh''. A '' sālik'' or Su ...

rodents 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 nat ...

."Ivan G. Horak, Heloise Heyne, Roy Williams, G. James Gallivan, Arthur M. Spickett, J. Dürr Bezuidenhout, and Agustín Estrada-Peña. 2018. ''The Ixodid Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of Southern Africa'', Springer, pp. 365-366; https://books.google.com/books?id=2TtMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA365, accessed June 30, 2018.Peter A. Mbati, Motseki Hlatshwayo, Moses S. Mtshali, Kagiso R. Mogaswane, Theo D. De Waal and Olusegun O. Dipeolu. 2002. Ticks and tick-borne diseases of livestock belonging to resource-poor farmers in the eastern Free State of South Africa. '' Experimental and Applied Acarology'' 28: 217-224, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-017-3526-1_21, accessed June 30, 2018. Heavy infestations have caused infant mortality in

Chacma baboon The chacma baboon (''Papio ursinus''), also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide vari ...

s in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, through infestation of the muzzle causing inflammation of the nose and mouth that prevents suckling.

Distribution

and

References

Ticks Ixodidae Arachnids of Africa Animals described in 1960 {{Acari-stub