Ornithodoros erraticus

{{Short description|Species of tick}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Speciesbox | image = | genus = Ornithodoros | species = erraticus | authority = (H. Lucas, 1849) | synonyms = *''Argas erraticus'' H. Lucas, 1849 *''Ornithodoros erraticus'' (Lucas, 1849); Neumann, 1896 *''Alectorobius erraticus'' (Lucas, 1849) or ''Alectorobius'' (''Theriodoros'') ''erraticus''; per Pospelova-Shtrom, 1953 *''Carios erraticus'' (Lucas, 1849); *''Ornithodoros (Pavlovskyella) erraticus'' (Lucas, 1849); per Clifford, Kohls, & Sonenshine, 1964 *''Ornithodoros erraticus subsp. erraticus'' Bailly-Choumara, Morel, & Rageau, 1976

Heteronyms: *''Ornithodoros erraticus subsp. major'' Colas-Belcour & Rageau, 1961

See also potential synonym with: *''Ornithodorus marocanus'' Velu, 1919 *''Ornithodorus erraticus subsp. marocanus'' Velu, 1919; Dürieux, 1932 *''Alectorobius marocanus'' (Velu, 1919); Pospelova-Shtrom, 1953 *''Argas marocanus'' Oswald, 1937 (misapplied name per Tickbase) *''Alectorobius'' (''Theriodoros'') ''marocanus'' Velu, 1919; Pospelova-Shtrom, 1953

|synonyms_ref = <ref name=GBIF>Carios erraticus Lucas, 1849 in GBIF Secretariat (2016). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist Dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via https://www.gbif.org/species/2184504 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002220156/https://www.gbif.org/species/2184504 |date=2017-10-02}} on 2017-10-02.</ref><ref name=COL>Nijhof A.M., Guglielmone A.A. & Horak I.G. (2017). TicksBase (version 5.6, Jun 2005). In: Roskov Y., Abucay L., Orrell T., Nicolson D., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., DeWalt R.E., Decock W., De Wever A., Nieukerken E. van, Zarucchi J., Penev L., eds. (2017). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 29 September 2017. Digital resource at http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/4e7795c13f4daacac24b26026b35939f {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002220434/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/4e7795c13f4daacac24b26026b35939f |date=2017-10-02}} . Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. ISSN 2405-8858.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hallan |first=Joel |title=Argasidae |website=Catalog of the Acari |publisher=Texas A&M University Department of Entomology |date=24 March 2008 |url=http://insects.tamu.edu/research/collection/hallan/Acari/Family/Argasidae.txt |format=text |access-date=17 December 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20151113193424/http://bug.tamu.edu/research/collection/hallan/Acari/Family/Argasidae.txt |archive-date=13 November 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> }}

'''''Ornithodoros erraticus''''' is a species of tick in the family Argasidae.<ref name="GBIF" /><ref name="COL" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mans |first=Ben J. |last2=Featherston |first2=Jonathan |last3=Kvas |first3=Marija |last4=Pillay |first4=Kerry-Anne |last5=de Klerk |first5=Daniel G. |last6=Pienaar |first6=Ronel |last7=de Castro |first7=Minique H. |last8=Schwan |first8=Tom G. |last9=Lopez |first9=Job E. |last10=Teel |first10=Pete |last11=Pérez de León |first11=Adalberto A. |last12=Sonenshine |first12=Daniel E. |last13=Egekwu |first13=Noble I. |last14=Bakkes |first14=Deon K. |last15=Heyne |first15=Heloise |date=2019-01-01 |title=Argasid and ixodid systematics: Implications for soft tick evolution and systematics, with a new argasid species list |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X18301547 |journal=Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=219–240 |doi=10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.09.010 |issn=1877-959X}}</ref> The tick was described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1849 as ''Argas erraticus'' from individuals collected in northern Algeria.

==Description== The tick is native to the Middle East and Mediterranean.<ref name="humans">{{Cite journal | last1= Estrada-Peña | first1= A. |last2=Jongejan |first2=F. | title = Ticks feeding on humans: a review of records on human-biting Ixodoidea with special reference to pathogen transmission | journal = Experimental and Applied Acarology | volume = 23 | issue = 9 | pages = 688 | date = September 1999 | doi = 10.1023/A:1006241108739| pmid= 10581710 | s2cid= 3351559 }}</ref> It is one of the more common soft ticks to bite humans.<ref name="humans" /> Their main food sources in Spain are pigs; the tick has been found in pig pens in the provinces of Salamanca, Badajoz, and Huelva.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Oleaga-Pérez|first1=A|last2=Pérez-Sánchez|first2=R|last3=Encinas-Grandes|first3=A|title=Distribution and biology of Ornithodoros erraticus in parts of Spain affected by African swine fever|journal=The Veterinary Record|date=1990|volume=126|issue=2|pages=32–37|pmid=2301109 |doi=10.1136/vr.126.2.32|doi-broken-date=11 July 2025}}</ref> The only human habitats the tick can enter are places in poor condition.<ref name="tropical">{{cite book | author = National Research Council (U.S.). Division of Medical Sciences | title = Tropical health: a report on a study of needs and resources | publisher = National Academies | year = 1962 | pages = 497 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wD8rAAAAYAAJ&q=Ornithodoros+erraticus+blood&pg=PA497 | access-date = 2010-06-02 | author2= Division Of Medical Sciences, National Research Council (U.S.)}}</ref>

==Pathology== This species carries the pathogenic Qalyub<ref>{{Cite book | last1= Kurstak | first1= Edouard |author2= R.G. Marusyk |author3= F.A. Murphy |author4= M.H.V. Van Regenmortel |name-list-style= amp | title = Applied Virology Research, Volume 2: Virus Variability, Epidemiology, and Control | publisher = Plenum Publishing Corporation | year = 1990 | location = New York, New York | pages = 341 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8IqP-MqI36MC&q=qalyub%20virus%20humans&pg=PA341 | isbn = 978-0-306-43359-7}}</ref> and African swine fever viruses and the spirochetes ''Borrelia crocidurae'' and ''Borrelia hispanica''.<ref name="humans" /> When the tick is infected by ''B. crocidurae'', the disease affects its genetic organ, the testes in males and the ovaries in females. The tick transmits the African swine fever virus only in Spain and Portugal.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Mullen | first1 = Gary | last2 = Mullen | first2 = Gary Richard | last3 = Durden | first3 = Lance | title = Medical and Veterinary Entomology | publisher = Academic Press | year = 2009 | pages = 519 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6R1v9o-uaI4C&q=Ornithodoros+erraticus+blood&pg=PA519 | access-date = 2010-06-02 | isbn = 978-0-12-372500-4 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170923171627/https://books.google.com/books?id=6R1v9o-uaI4C&pg=PA519&dq=Ornithodoros+erraticus+blood&cd=4#v=onepage&q=Ornithodoros%20erraticus%20blood | archive-date = 2017-09-23 | url-status = live }}</ref>

The tick feeds at night, ingesting blood to repletion in about 15 minutes. Small mammals are the most common hosts;<ref>{{cite book | last1 = D. Feigin | first1 = Ralph | title = Textbook of pediatric infectious diseases, Volume 2 | publisher = Elsevier Health Sciences | year = 2004 | pages = 1696 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tvtJabldoKgC&q=Ornithodoros%20erraticus&pg=PA1696 | access-date = 2010-06-02 | isbn = 978-0-7216-9329-3}}</ref> this species rarely bites humans, preferring other vertebrates.<ref name="tropical" /> The tick has substances in its saliva, such as antihemostatic, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory molecules, which help the tick get blood from the host and transfer pathogens easily.<ref>{{cite journal | title = A proteomic approach to the identification of salivary proteins from the argasid ticks Ornithodoros moubata and Ornithodoros erraticus (2007) | journal = Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | date = November 2007 | pmid = 17916501 | doi = 10.1016/j.ibmb.2007.07.003 | volume = 37 | issue = 11 | pages = 1149–59 | last1 = Oleaga | first1 = Ana | last2 = Escudero-Población | first2 = Andrés | last3 = Camafeita | first3 = Emilio | last4 = Pérez-Sánchez | first4 = Ricardo | url = https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/10349/1/92209_IB-D-07-00097_final_manuscript.pdf | hdl = 10261/10349 | access-date = 2018-05-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170814090808/http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/10349/1/92209_IB-D-07-00097_final_manuscript.pdf | archive-date = 2017-08-14 | url-status = live | hdl-access = free }}</ref> Major factors in their feeding relationship are mating, recent feeding, and size.

Some strains of entomopathogenic fungi have been found to be effective against this tick and others in the related genus ''Ornithodoros'' in a study which concluded the fungi could be used as biocontrol agents for argasid ticks;<ref>{{cite journal | title = Pathogenicity of endophytic entomopathogenic fungi to Ornithodoros erraticus and Ornithodoros moubata (Acari: Argasidae) | journal = Veterinary Parasitology | date = 2008-12-20 | volume = 158 | issue = 4 | pages = 336–343 | doi = 10.1016/j.vetpar.2008.09.019 | pmid = 18976863 | last1 = Zabalgogeazcoa | first1 = I | last2 = Oleaga | first2 = A | last3 = Pérez-Sánchez | first3 = R | url = https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/10128/1/Vetpar-D-08-1971_para_Digital_CSIC.pdf | access-date = 2018-05-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170819181911/http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/10128/1/Vetpar-D-08-1971_para_Digital_CSIC.pdf | archive-date = 2017-08-19 | url-status = live}}</ref> the name of this is called hyperparasitism.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Hyperparasitism in ''Ornithodoros erraticus'' | journal = Journal of Parasitology | date = February 1983| pmid=6827441 | volume=69 | issue=1 | pages=229–33 | doi = 10.2307/3281305 | last1 = Helmy | first1 = N | last2 = Khalil | first2 = GM | last3 = Hoogstraal | first3 = H | jstor = 3281305}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== **{{Wikispecies-inline|Carios erraticus|''Carios erraticus''}}

Category:Ticks Category:Argasidae Category:Fauna of the Middle East Category:Animals described in 1849 Category:Taxa named by Hippolyte Lucas