Host associations of the snake tick Amblyomma cordiferum Neumann, 1899 (Ixodida: Ixodidae), with new host records from Taiwan

Abstract

The ixodid tick Amblyomma cordiferum Neumann, 1899 is an uncommonly collected Old World reptile-associated species that is primarily ectoparasitic on snakes. This tick is known from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Samoa. In Taiwan, A. cordiferum has previously been reported on Elaphe carinata (Günther), Elaphe taeniura (Cope), and Ptyas mucosa (Linnaeus). In this paper, we examined a total of 246 specimens of A. cordiferum from recent and old collections. Here we report new Taiwan records of A. cordiferum parasitizing the Chinese cobra, Naja atra Cantor, many-banded krait, Bungarus multicinctus Blyth, and yellow-spotted keelback, Fowlea flavipunctatus (Hallowell). This is also the first report of A. cordiferum parasitizing members of the venomous family Elapidae in Taiwan, as well as the first report of A. cordiferum parasitizing a member of the colubrid genus Fowlea Theobald. An updated host-parasite list summarizes all known hosts of A. cordiferum throughout this tick’s geographic range.