''Rhipicephalus'' is a genus of

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 ...

s in the family

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 ...

, the hard ticks, consisting of about 74 or 75 species. Most are native to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

.Olwoch, J. M., et al. (2007)
Climate change and the genus ''Rhipicephalus'' (Acari: Ixodidae) in Africa.
''Onderstepoort J Vet Res'' 74(1), 45-72. Species are difficult to distinguish from one another because most are quite similar, while individuals of one particular species can be quite variable.Beati, L. and J. E. Keirans. (2001)
Analysis of the systematic relationships among ticks of the genera ''Rhipicephalus'' and ''Boophilus'' (Acari: Ixodidae) based on mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA gene sequences and morphological characters.
''The Journal of Parasitology'' 87(1), 32. Most of the characteristics used to identify species pertain to male and immature specimens, and "females are sometimes simply impossible to identify". Many ''Rhipicephalus'' spp. are of economic, medical, and veterinary importance because they are vectors of

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

s. They transmit the pathogens that cause the animal and human diseases East Coast fever,

anaplasmosis Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease affecting ruminants, dogs, and horses, and is caused by ''Anaplasma'' bacteria. Anaplasmosis is an infectious but not contagious disease. Anaplasmosis can be transmitted through mechanical and biological vector ...

babesiosis Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a ''Babesia'' or '' Theileria'', in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission via ...

, rickettsiosis, Boutonneuse fever,

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the ''Borrelia'' bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migran ...

Q fever Q fever or query fever is a disease caused by infection with ''Coxiella burnetii'', a bacterium that affects humans and other animals. This organism is uncommon, but may be found in cattle, sheep, goats, and other domestic mammals, including ...

Rocky Mountain spotted fever Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a bacterial disease spread by ticks. It typically begins with a fever and headache, which is followed a few days later with the development of a rash. The rash is generally made up of small spots of bleedin ...

, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, and they inject a neurotoxin in their bite that leads to tick-caused paralysis. ''Boophilus'' was once considered a separate genus, but studies in the early 2000s resulted in ''Boophilus'' being made a subgenus of ''Rhipicephalus''. Species familiar in the domestic environment include the brown dog tick (''R. sanguineus'').

Etymology

The name ''Rhipicephalus'' is derived from the Greek word ''rhiphis'', meaning "fan-like", and κεφαλή, ''kephalē'', meaning "head". The two terms are related to the hexagonal basis capituli of ''Rhipicephalus''.

Epidemiology

''Rhipicephalus bursa'' is a carrier of

, theileriosis and

in domestic animals, of the Nairobi sheep disease, and an aggressive vector of the agents of the Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever and of the

Species

* '' Rhipicephalus appendiculatus'' Neumann 1901 – brown ear tick * '' Rhipicephalus aquatilis'' Walker, Keirans & Pegram, 1993 * '' Rhipicephalus armatus'' Pocock, 1900 * '' Rhipicephalus arnoldi'' Theiler & Zumpt, 1949 * '' Rhipicephalus australis'' Fuller, 1899 * '' Rhipicephalus bequaerti'' Zumpt, 1949 * '' Rhipicephalus bergeoni'' Morel & Balis, 1976 * '' Rhipicephalus boueti'' Morel, 1957 * '' Rhipicephalus bursa'' Canestrini & Fanzago, 1878 * '' Rhipicephalus camicasi'' Morel, Mouchet & Rodhain, 1976 * '' Rhipicephalus capensis'' Koch, 1844 * '' Rhipicephalus carnivoralis'' Walker, 1966 * '' Rhipicephalus complanatus'' Neumann, 1911 * '' Rhipicephalus compositus'' Neumann, 1897 * '' Rhipicephalus congolensis'' Apanaskevich, Horak & Mulumba-Mfumu, 2013Apanaskevich, D. A., et al. 2013
A new species of ''Rhipicephalus'' (Acari: Ixodidae), a parasite of Red River hogs and domestic pigs in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
''Journal of Medical Entomology'' 50(3), 479-84. * '' Rhipicephalus cuspidatus'' Neumann, 1906 * '' Rhipicephalus decoloratus'' Koch, 1844 * '' Rhipicephalus deltoideus'' Neumann, 1910 * '' Rhipicephalus distinctus'' Bedford 1932 * '' Rhipicephalus duttoni'' Neumann, 1907 * '' Rhipicephalus dux'' Dönitz, 1910 *''

Rhipicephalus evertsi ''Rhipicephalus'' is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks, consisting of about 74 or 75 species. Most are native to tropical Africa.Olwoch, J. M., et al. (2007)Climate change and the genus ''Rhipicephalus'' (Acari: Ixodidae) in ...

'' Neumann, 1897 * '' Rhipicephalus exophthalmos'' Keirans & Walker 1993 * '' Rhipicephalus follis'' Dönitz, 1910 * '' Rhipicephalus fulvus'' Neumann, 1913 * '' Rhipicephalus gertrudae'' Feldman-Muhsam, 1960 * '' Rhipicephalus glabroscutatum'' Du Toit, 1941 * '' Rhipicephalus guilhoni'' Morel & Vassiliades, 1963 * '' Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides'' Supino, 1897 * '' Rhipicephalus hoogstraali'' Kolonin, 2009 * '' Rhipicephalus humeralis'' Rondelli, 1926 * '' Rhipicephalus hurti'' Wilson, 1954 * '' Rhipicephalus interventus'' Walker, Pegram & Keirans, 1995 * '' Rhipicephalus jeanneli'' Neumann 1913 * '' Rhipicephalus kochi'' Dönitz, 1905 * '' Rhipicephalus leporis'' Pomerantsev, 1946 * '' Rhipicephalus longiceps'' Warburton 1912 * '' Rhipicephalus longicoxatus'' Neumann, 1905 * '' Rhipicephalus longus'' Neumann, 1907 * '' Rhipicephalus lounsburyi'' Walker, 1990 * '' Rhipicephalus lunulatus'' Neumann 1907 * '' Rhipicephalus maculatus'' Neumann, 1901 * '' Rhipicephalus masseyi'' Nuttall & Warburton 1908 * '' Rhipicephalus microplus'' (Canestrini, 1888) * '' Rhipicephalus moucheti'' Morel, 1965 * '' Rhipicephalus muehlensi'' Zumpt, 1943 * '' Rhipicephalus muhsamae'' Morel & Vassiliades, 1965 * '' Rhipicephalus neumanni'' Walker, 1990 * '' Rhipicephalus nitens'' Neumann, 1904 * '' Rhipicephalus oculatus'' Neumann 1901 * '' Rhipicephalus oreotragi'' Walker & Horak, 2000 * '' Rhipicephalus pilans'' Schulze, 1935 * '' Rhipicephalus planus'' Neumann, 1907 * '' Rhipicephalus praetextatus'' Gerstäcker, 1873 * '' Rhipicephalus pravus'' Dönitz, 1910 * '' Rhipicephalus pseudolongus'' Santos Dias, 1953 * '' Rhipicephalus pulchellus'' Gerstäcker, 1873 * '' Rhipicephalus pumilio'' Schulze, 1935 * '' Rhipicephalus punctatus'' Warburton 1912 * '' Rhipicephalus pusillus'' Gil Collado, 1936 * '' Rhipicephalus ramachandrai'' Dhanda, 1966 * '' Rhipicephalus rossicus'' Yakimov & Kol-Yakimova, 1911 * ''

Rhipicephalus sanguineus ''Rhipicephalus sanguineus'', commonly called the brown dog tick, kennel tick, or pantropical dog tick, is a species of tick found worldwide, but more commonly in warmer climates. This species is unusual among ticks in that its entire lifecycle c ...

'' Latreille, 1806 – brown dog tick * '' Rhipicephalus scalpturatus'' Santos Dias, 1959 * '' Rhipicephalus schulzei'' Olenev 1929 * '' Rhipicephalus sculptus'' Warburton 1912 * '' Rhipicephalus senegalensis'' Koch, 1844 * '' Rhipicephalus serranoi'' Santos Dias 1950 * '' Rhipicephalus simpsoni'' Nuttall 1910 * '' Rhipicephalus simus'' Koch, 1844 * '' Rhipicephalus sulcatus'' Neumann, 1908 * '' Rhipicephalus supertritus'' Neumann, 1907 * '' Rhipicephalus tetracornus'' Kitaoka & Suzuki, 1983 * '' Rhipicephalus theileri'' Bedford & Hewitt, 1925 * '' Rhipicephalus tricuspis'' Dönitz, 1906 * '' Rhipicephalus turanicus'' Pomerantsev 1936 * '' Rhipicephalus warburtoni'' Walker & Horak, 2000 * '' Rhipicephalus zambeziensis'' Walker, Norval & Corwin, 1981 * '' Rhipicephalus zumpti'' Santos Dias, 1950

Subgenus ''Boophilus''

* ''

Rhipicephalus annulatus The Cattle tick, (''Rhipicephalus annulatus''), is a hard-bodied tick of the genus '' Rhipicephalus''. It is also known as North American cattle tick, North American Texas fever tick, and Texas fever tick. Distribution It shows a cosmopolitan d ...

'' Say, 1821 * '' Rhipicephalus decoloratus'' Koch, 1844 * '' Rhipicephalus geigyi'' Aeschlimann & Morel, 1965 * '' Rhipicephalus kohlsi'' Hoogstraal & Kaiser, 1960 * '' Rhipicephalus microplus'' Canestrini, 1888 – southern cattle tick

References

External links

*Guglielmone, A. A., et al. (2010)
The Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae (Acari: Ixodida) of the world: A list of valid species names.
''Zootaxa'' (2528), 1-28. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2040501 Ticks Taxa named by Carl Ludwig Koch Ixodidae