Term of Award
Summer 2015
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Biology
Committee Chair
Lorenza Beati
Committee Member 1
Lance Durden
Committee Member 2
Laura Regassa
Abstract
This work sought to reassess the taxonomic status of Amblyomma parvum Aragao, 1908 and of the A. maculatum group of ticks Camicas, 1998. By using different molecular markers, 12SrDNA, 16SrDNA, DL, COI, COII (mitochondrial) and ITS2 (nuclear), I analyzed the systematic relationships between these taxa and their closest relatives. Phylogenetic analyses by maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis were performed in order to determine relationships among species and populations, and to determine the evolutionary history of these ixodids. The data obtained supported the hypothesis of cryptic speciation occurring within A. parvum, with the northern populations of Central America being a different species from the one occurring in the southern latitudes, mainly in Brazil and Argentina. As for the A. maculatum group of species, the results strongly suggest that A. triste should be synonymized with A. maculatum, while A. tigrinum is maintained as a separated taxon until further biological evidence is gathered. In conclusion, the analyses presented herein successfully resolved some of the taxonomic issues within this large genus of hard ticks, while raising additional questions for future investigations.
Recommended Citation
Lado, Paula., "Helping to resolve taxonomic conflicts within the genus Amblyomma (Acari: Ixodidae) from a molecular perspective" (2015). Electronic Theses & Dissertations.
