Rhipicephalus gertrudae

Rhipicephalus gertrudae is a species of tick in the family Ixodidae.^[1] The specific epithet honors South African parasitologist Dr. Gertrud Theiler.^[2][1] The species was first circumscribed by Dr. Brouria Feldman-Muhsam.^[2]

Rhipicephalus gertrudae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Rhipicephalus
Species:	R. gertrudae
Binomial name
Rhipicephalus gertrudae Feldman-Muhsam, 1960

Rhipicephalus gertrudae is moderate-sized, about 4 mm in length, heavily punctate, and reddish-brown in color.^[1] Adults are generalist hematophagous parasites, feeding primarily on domestic and wild herbivores such as cattle and sheep; the immatures are specialist hematophagous parasites of murid rodents.^[3][4] Heavy infestations have caused infant mortality in Chacma baboons in Namibia, through infestation of the muzzle causing inflammation of the nose and mouth that prevents suckling.^[1]

Distribution

Namibia and South Africa.^[1][3]

References

1. Walker, Jane B.; Keirans, James E.; Horak, Ivan G. (2005-09-15). The Genus Rhipicephalus (Acari, Ixodidae): A Guide to the Brown Ticks of the World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-58374-6.
2. Brouria Feldman-Muhsam. 1960. The South African Ticks Rhipicephalus capensis Koch and R. gertrudae n. sp. Journal of Parasitology, 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."
3. Horak, Ivan G.; Heyne, Heloise; Williams, Roy; Gallivan, G. James; Spickett, Arthur M.; Bezuidenhout, J. Dürr; Estrada-Peña, Agustín (2018-02-14). The Ixodid Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of Southern Africa. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-70642-9.
4. Mbati, Peter A.; Hlatshwayo, Motseki; Mtshali, Moses S.; Mogaswane, Kagiso R.; De Waal, Theo D.; Dipeolu, Olusegun O. (2003), Jongejan, Frans; Kaufman, W. Reuben (eds.), Ticks and tick-borne diseases of livestock belonging to resource-poor farmers in the eastern Free State of South Africa, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 217–224, doi:10.1007/978-94-017-3526-1_21, ISBN 978-94-017-3526-1, retrieved 2023-09-05