Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

Vol. 28, Nov Suppl Issue 2022; Page No.(S127-S132)

CHARACTERIZATION AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OFHYALOMMADROMEDARII (ACARI, IXODIDAE) IN HOT ARIDREGION OF BIKANER, INDIA

Harish Kumar Changal, R.K.Purohit, G. Nagarajan, P.N. Sivalingam and N. Bhojak

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the Morphological and Molecular identification withphylogenetic analysis of camel ticks Hyalommadromedarii found on one-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius)in hot arid region of Bikaner. For this purpose, a total of 205 ticks were collected from camels in variouslocation of the Bikaner city and NRCC, Bikaner, during summer of 2009. In these location highest suspectedspecies infesting the camels belongs to only Hyalomma genus in summer season of 2009 have been foundand reported in the Ph.D. thesis of the first author. The large majority of them are Hyalommadromedaii (90%)was identified by using DNA based techniques (Cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COXI) gene) and its specificmorphologically features examined and dorsal and ventral view are showing in male and female and theratio of male ticks (60%) was more than female ticks (40%). Phylogenetic analysis study demonstrated thatH. dromedarii ticks in the hot region of Bikaner are very similar at the genetic level from hot region of Kenyaand Ethiopia, because sequence analysis revealed that COXI gene of H. dromedarii from Bikaner shared99.1–99.2 % sequence identity at the nucleotide level with H .dromedariiisolatesfrom Kenya and Ethiopia.