G.V. Kolonin "FAUNA OF IXODID TICKS OF THE WORLD"

INTRODUCTION

More than twenty years ago, the author published for the first time a review of the world distribution of ixodid ticks, which contained data on distribution, hosts, biology, and pathogenic value of all ixodid tick species of the world fauna with range maps and principal literature on each species (G.V. Kolonin "World distribution of ixodid ticks", 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984). Since then, our knowledge of this important group of parasites has increased considerably. Besides numerous journal articles, the major monographs on the genus Rhipicephalus of the world (Walker et al., 2000), on the nomenclature of ixodid ticks (Camicas et al., 1998), on the ticks of Russia and adjacent countries (Filippova, 1997), on ticks of China (Teng and Jiang, 1991), on ticks of the Neotropical region (Guglielmone et al., 2003), and on the subgenus Ixodiopsis (Robbins and Keirans, 1992) have been published. There was also an opportunity to become acquainted with a most interesting and rare book on ixodid ticks of Vietnam (Phan, 1977).

In light of these new publications, it was necessary to revise existing information, to add new data, and to publish a new edition of the book. This publication as a whole has retained the structure of earlier editions. The list of references contains all the principal works published after the publication of the first review. The taxonomic structure of the family Ixodidae is presented in accordance with the views of J. Keirans (1992), J.-L. Camicas et al. (1998), and I.G. Horak et al. (2002), with the exception of the genera Aponomma and Boophilus, where traditional views have been retained. New species Rhipicephalus hoogstraali Kolonin sp. n. has been described. According to the available data, the total number of species of ixodid ticks of the world totals 665.

Our earlier work attempted to reveal the centers of species diversity for the ixodid ticks of the world (Kolonin and Andreev, 1992). Superimposing maps of species ranges, we found that all the genera, except Dermacentor, have distinct centers of species diversity. Yet most of the genera (Haemaphysalis, Amblyomma, Rhipicephalus, Hyalomma, and Aponomma) have only one main center of species diversity, and only Ixodes has several (no less than six) equally important centers of species diversity, which may correlate to the polyphyletic origin of this genus.

The recent maintenance of a database of the world fauna of ticks was largely due to the participation of the following colleagues: D.A. Apanaskevich (Russia), J.E. Keirans, R.G. Robbins, R.P. Eckerlin (USA), D.M. Barros-Battesti, A.Henriques, M.B. Labruna (Brazil), A.A. Guglielmone, P.M. Beldomenico (Argentina), D. Gonzales-Acuña (Chile), J.M. Venzal (Uruguay), C. Guzman Cornejo (Mexico), A. Estrada-Peña (Spain), E. Camus, J.-L. Camicas (France), T.N. Petney (Germany), I.G. Horak (South Africa), S.Rahbari (Iran), T.C. Phan (Vietnam), J.G. Liu, K.F. Teng, and Z.J. Jiang (China). I am deeply grateful to all of them, but particularly to Matthias Kiefer, who never refused to provide me with any prints I needed. Gratitude to the untimely deceased H. Hoogstraal and T. Santos-Dias is forever preserved in my memory.

My special thanks are due to O.V. Voltzit, who kindly agreed to prepare computer maps of tick distributions.

I also thank P.N. Petrov and C. S. Miller for correcting the English of the manuscript.

Dear colleagues, you can copy and use any materials from this book. There is only one request: please refer to my book whenever you use any of its content. The author.