Morphological identification and molecular characterization of economically important ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) from North and North–western Egypt

For the sake of total evidence of ticks invading North and North–west parts of Egypt, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and DNA sequencing of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and nuclear second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) were performed. Morphological and molecular analysis confirmed the presence and well–distribution of <em>Rhipicephalus</em> <em>sanguineus</em> s.l., <em>Rhipicephalus</em> (<em>Boophilus</em>) <em>annulatus</em>, and <em>Hyalomma</em> <em>dromedarii</em> infesting dogs and sheep (Alexandria governorate), cattle (Beheira governorate), and camels (Marsa Matruh governorate) of North/North–western parts of Egypt. 16S rDNA and ITS2 sequences of the ticks were amplified using universal and gene–specific sets of primers, sequenced and analyzed. Lengths of amplified 16S rDNA sequences in all examined tick species were found to be similar in size (460 bp); however, they differed in base pair constitutions, whereas ITS2 lengths were 1,500 bp, 1,550 bp, and 1,800 bp for <em>Rh.</em> (<em>B.</em>) <em>annulatus</em>, <em>Rh.</em> <em>sanguineus</em> s.l., and <em>Hy. dromedarii</em>, respectively. Phylogenetically, based on 16S rDNA, <em>Rh. sanguineus</em> s.l. ticks belonged to the southeastern Europe lineage from Romania and Greece, <em>Rh.</em> (<em>B.</em>) <em>annulatus</em> ticks were similar to Turkish populations, and <em>Hy. dromedarii</em> were close to populations from Tunisia. Based on ITS2 sequences, <em>Rh. sanguineus</em> s.l. from dogs were identical to Nigerian populations; however, those collected from sheep were closer to Iranian populations with 4.1% nucleotide divergence between the two populations of different hosts. <em>Rh.</em> (<em>B.</em>) <em>annulatus</em> ticks were identical to a population from Romania, whereas <em>Hy.</em> <em>dromedarii</em> was close to a population from Kenya. This is the first report of nucleotide sequences of 16S rDNA and ITS2 in integration with morphological identification of ticks from this part of Egypt.