FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 10000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Journal of medical entomology2026; 63(3); tjag059; doi: 10.1093/jme/tjag059

Genetic diversity of Dermacentor nitens (Acari: Ixodidae) collected on horses from western Cuba.

Abstract: The tropical horse tick, Dermacentor nitens Neumann, 1897, has a wide distribution throughout the Neotropics, and is a vector of protozoan haemoparasites that cause equine piroplasmosis. Despite this, little is known about the genetic diversity of this tick species, particularly in Cuba, where horses are important domestic animals used in agriculture and for transportation. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of genetic variation in 115 D. nitens adults (57 females and 58 males) collected from horses in the Cuban province of Mayabeque using sequence data of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 gene (nad4). The results revealed the presence of 7 cox1 haplotypes, 14 nad4 haplotypes, and 23 haplotypes with concatenation of the two genetic markers. However, the results of the rarefaction curve analyses predict the existence of other rare haplotypes in Mayabeque Province. The most common haplotype for each genetic marker was identical to a D. nitens from Brazil, Colombia, Panama, and French Guiana. The star-like haplotype networks, each with a central (ie "ancestral") and most abundant haplotype, combined with the significant negative values for the Tajima's D and Fu's F tests, is consistent with a hypothesis of the introduction of D. nitens on horses from mainland South America (ie a founder effect) followed by demographic expansion. Additional population genetic studies on D. nitens are needed in other countries where this species occurs to examine the phylogeography of this tick species of socioeconomic importance.
© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2026-05-17 PubMed ID: 42143566PubMed Central: PMC13180250DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjag059Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Journal Article

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

Overview

  • This study examined the genetic diversity of the tropical horse tick, Dermacentor nitens, collected from horses in western Cuba.
  • Using mitochondrial gene sequences, researchers assessed variation and inferred population history, suggesting an introduction from mainland South America followed by expansion.

Introduction to Dermacentor nitens

  • Dermacentor nitens is a species of tick found widely in the Neotropics.
  • It acts as a vector for protozoan haemoparasites that cause equine piroplasmosis, a disease affecting horses.
  • Horses play a significant role in Cuban agriculture and transportation, making this tick of socioeconomic importance.
  • Prior to this study, little was known about the genetic diversity of D. nitens in Cuba.

Objectives and Methods

  • The goal was to determine the extent of genetic variation within D. nitens sampled from the Cuban province of Mayabeque.
  • A total of 115 adult ticks were collected from horses: 57 females and 58 males.
  • Genetic analysis focused on two mitochondrial genes:
    • Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1)
    • NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (nad4)
  • Sequence data were used to identify haplotypes and analyze genetic diversity.

Key Findings

  • Seven distinct haplotypes were identified for the cox1 gene.
  • Fourteen haplotypes were found for the nad4 gene.
  • Combining both genetic markers yielded 23 unique haplotypes.
  • Rarefaction curve analysis suggested the presence of additional rare haplotypes not captured in the sample.
  • The most common haplotypes matched those of D. nitens found in Brazil, Colombia, Panama, and French Guiana, indicating genetic similarity across regions.

Population Genetic Interpretations

  • Haplotype networks showed a star-like pattern centered around the most common, likely ancestral, haplotypes.
  • Statistical tests—Tajima’s D and Fu’s F—showed significant negative values consistent with a recent population expansion.
  • These findings support a founder effect hypothesis: D. nitens was likely introduced into Cuba from mainland South America, probably alongside horses.
  • After introduction, the tick population presumably expanded demographically in Cuba.

Implications and Future Research

  • This study provides baseline genetic data on D. nitens in Cuba, essential for understanding its epidemiology and control.
  • The presence of multiple haplotypes and evidence of expansion highlight the complexity of tick population dynamics.
  • Further genetic work is needed across other regions in the distribution range to map phylogeography and trace tick migration patterns.
  • Such research can inform strategies to mitigate the spread of piroplasmosis and better manage equine health.

Cite This Article

APA
Roblejo-Arias L, Diaz-Sánchez AA, Marrero-Perera R, Lobo-Rivero E, Corona-González B, Chilton NB. (2026). Genetic diversity of Dermacentor nitens (Acari: Ixodidae) collected on horses from western Cuba. J Med Entomol, 63(3), tjag059. https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjag059

Publication

Journal of medical entomology
ISSN: 1938-2928
NlmUniqueID: 0375400
Country: England
Language: English
Volume: 63
Issue: 3
PII: tjag059

Researcher Affiliations

Roblejo-Arias, Lisset
  • Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Carretera de Tapaste y Autopista Nacional, Mayabeque, Cuba.
  • Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
Diaz-Sánchez, Adrian A
  • Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Carretera de Tapaste y Autopista Nacional, Mayabeque, Cuba.
  • Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
Marrero-Perera, Roxana
  • Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Carretera de Tapaste y Autopista Nacional, Mayabeque, Cuba.
Lobo-Rivero, Evelyn
  • Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Carretera de Tapaste y Autopista Nacional, Mayabeque, Cuba.
Corona-González, Belkis
  • Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA), Carretera de Tapaste y Autopista Nacional, Mayabeque, Cuba.
Chilton, Neil B
  • Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Horses
  • Dermacentor / genetics
  • Genetic Variation
  • Female
  • Male
  • Cuba
  • Haplotypes
  • Electron Transport Complex IV / genetics

Grant Funding

  • National Center for Animal and Plant Health
  • Canada International Scholarships Program
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to Prof. Neil Chilton

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

This article includes 45 references
  1. Araya-Anchetta A, Busch JD, Scoles GA. Thirty years of tick population genetics: a comprehensive review. Infect. Genet. Evol. 29:164–179.
    doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2014.11.008pubmed: 25461844google scholar: lookup
  2. Aris-Brosou S, Excoffier L. The impact of population expansion and mutation rate heterogeneity on DNA sequence polymorphism. Mol. Biol. Evol. 13:494–504.
    doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025610pubmed: 8742638google scholar: lookup
  3. Barros-Battesti DM, Hernández MR, Famadas KM. The ixodid ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of Cuba. Syst. Appl. Acarol. 12:101–128.
    doi: 10.11158/saa.14.2.3google scholar: lookup
  4. Binetruy F, Chevillon C, de Thoisy B. Survey of ticks in French Guiana. Ticks Tick. Borne Dis. 10:77–85.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.09.003pubmed: 30224310google scholar: lookup
  5. Borges LMF, de Oliveira PR. The tropical horse tick, (Neumann, 1897) (Acari: Ixodidae). Trends Entomol. 3:165–168.
  6. Burger TD, Shao R, Labruna MB. Molecular phylogeny of soft ticks (Ixodida: Argasidae) inferred from mitochondrial genome and nuclear rRNA sequences. Ticks Tick-Borne Dis. 5:195–207.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2013.10.009pubmed: 24378079google scholar: lookup
  7. Chao A, Ma K, Hsieh TJP. iNEXT (iNterpolation and EXTrapolation) online: software for interpolation and extrapolation of species diversity. Program and User’s Guide. .
  8. Chilton NB, Thampy PR, Wolbaum CR. Genetic diversity and phylogeographic relationships of (Acari: Ixodidae) within an established population of in southern Manitoba (Canada), and the prevalence of and -like endosymbionts. J. Med. Entomol. 62:840–850.
    doi: 10.1093/jme/tjaf010pmc: PMC12271740pubmed: 40245248google scholar: lookup
  9. Clement M, Posada D, Crandall KA. TCS: a computer program to estimate gene genealogies. Mol. Ecol. 9:1657–1659.
    doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2000.01020.xpubmed: 11050560google scholar: lookup
  10. Colwell RK, Coddington JA. Estimating terrestrial biodiversity through extrapolation. Philos. Trans. R Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 345:101–118.
    doi: 10.1098/rstb.1994.009pubmed: 7972351google scholar: lookup
  11. Crosbie PR, Boyce WM, Rodwell TC. DNA sequence variation in and estimated phylogenies of spp. (Acari: Ixodidae) in the New World. J. Med. Entomol. 35:277–288.
    doi: 10.1093/jmedent/35.3.277pubmed: 9615547google scholar: lookup
  12. de la Fuente J, Almazan C, Van Den Bussche RA. Characterization of genetic diversity in (Acari: Ixodidae) with body size and weight polymorphism. Exp. Parasitol. 109:16–26.
    pubmed: 15639135doi: 0.1016/j.exppara.2004.10.004google scholar: lookup
  13. Diaz-Sánchez AA, Chilton NB, Roblejo-Arias L. Molecular detection and identification of spotted fever group rickettsiae in ticks collected from horses in Cuba. Med. Vet. Entomol. 35:207–212.
    pubmed: 32936461doi: 10.1111/mve.12480google scholar: lookup
  14. Diaz-Sánchez AA, Pires MS, Estrada CY. First molecular evidence of and infections in horses in Cuba. Parasitol. Res. 117:3109–3118.
    doi: 10.1007/s00436-018-6005-5pubmed: 30033488google scholar: lookup
  15. Excoffier L, Lischer HEL. Arlequin suite ver 3.5: a new series of programs to perform population genetics analyses under Linux and Windows. Mol. Ecol. Resour. 10:564–567.
    doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02847.xpubmed: 21565059google scholar: lookup
  16. Fonseca CR, García AH, Velázquez BZ. Estado del Clima en Cuba 2023. Resumen ampliado.. Rev. Cubana Met. 30:e09.
  17. Fu YX. Statistical tests of neutrality of mutations against population growth, hitchhiking and background selection.. Genetics 147:915–925.
    doi: 10.1093/genetics/147.2.915pmc: PMC1208208pubmed: 9335623google scholar: lookup
  18. Gooding RH. Genetic variation in arthropod vectors of disease-causing organisms: obstacles and opportunities.. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 9:301–320.
    doi: 10.1128/CMR.9.3.301pmc: PMC172895pubmed: 8809462google scholar: lookup
  19. Guglielmone AA, Nava S, Robbins RG. Neotropical hard ticks (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae): a critical analysis of their taxonomy, distribution, and host relationships.. Springer Nature Switzerland AG .
    doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-72353-8google scholar: lookup
  20. Gunn SJ, Hilburn LR. Cytosystematics of five North American (Acari: Ixodidae) species.. J. Med. Entomol. 27:620–627.
    doi: 10.1093/jmedent/27.4.620pubmed: 2388236google scholar: lookup
  21. Kaufman EL, Stone NE, Scoles GA. Range-wide genetic analysis of and its -like endosymbionts demonstrates phylogeographic concordance between both taxa.. Parasit. Vectors 11:306.
    doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-2886-5pmc: PMC5960137pubmed: 29776375google scholar: lookup
  22. Kerber CE, Labruna MB, Ferreira F. Prevalence of equine Piroplasmosis and its association with tick infestation in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.. Rev. Bras. Parasitol. Vet. 18:1–8.
    doi: 10.4322/rbpv.01804001pubmed: 20040201google scholar: lookup
  23. Knowles D. Equine babesiosis (Piroplasmosis): a problem in the international movement of horses.. Br. Vet. J. 152:123–126.
    doi: 10.1016/s0007-1935(96)80066-2pubmed: 8680834google scholar: lookup
  24. Krakowetz CN, Dergousoff SJ, Chilton NB. Genetic variation in the mitochondrial 16S rDNA of the American dog tick, (Acari: Ixodidae).. J. Vector Ecol. 35:163–173.
    doi: 10.1111/j.1948-7134.2010.00043.xpubmed: 20618663google scholar: lookup
  25. Labruna MB, Faccini JLH. The nonparasitic phase of under field conditions in southeastern Brazil.. Rev. Brass. Parasitol. Vet. 29:e008620.
    doi: 10.1590/S1984-29612020090pubmed: 33112361google scholar: lookup
  26. Labruna MB, Kasai N, Ferreira F. Seasonal dynamics of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on horses in the state of São Paulo Brazil.. Vet. Parasitol. 105:65–77.
    doi: 10.1016/s0304-4017(01)00649-5pubmed: 11879967google scholar: lookup
  27. Leo SST, Pybus MJ, Sperling FAH. Deep mitochondrial DNA lineage divergences within Alberta populations of (Acari: Ixodidae) do not indicate distinct species.. J. Med. Entomol. 47:565–574.
    doi: 10.1093/jmedent/47.4.565pmc: PMC7027266pubmed: 20695271google scholar: lookup
  28. McCoy KD. The population genetic structure of vectors and our understanding of disease epidemiology.. Parasite 15:444–448.
    doi: 10.1051/parasite/2008153444pubmed: 18814720google scholar: lookup
  29. Nei M, Kumar S. Molecular evolution and phylogenetics.. Oxford University Press .
  30. Nichol GK, Lado P, Snyman LP. species (Acari: Ixodidae) in western Canada, with detection of .. J. Med. Entomol. 62:123–129.
    doi: 10.1093/jme/tjae133pmc: PMC11735260pubmed: 39486445google scholar: lookup
  31. Orkun Ö, Sarıkaya E, Yılmaz A. Population genetic structure and demographic history of Sulzer, 1776 in Anatolia.. Sci. Rep. 15:12570.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-97658-0pmc: PMC11993584pubmed: 40221486google scholar: lookup
  32. Ospina-Pérez EM, Ossa-López PA, Ramírez Chaves HE. Morphological and molecular data suggest the presence of cryptic diversity within (Acari: Ixodidae) in Colombia.. Syst. Appl. Acarol. 29:723–743.
    doi: 10.11158/saa.29.6.7google scholar: lookup
  33. Patterson EI, Dergousoff SJ, Chilton NB. Genetic variation in the 16S mitochondrial DNA gene of two Canadian populations of (Acari: Ixodidae).. J. Med. Entomol. 46:475–481.
    doi: 10.1603/033.046.0310pubmed: 19496416google scholar: lookup
  34. Peckle M, Pires MS, Dos Santos TM. Molecular epidemiology of in horses and their association with possible tick vectors in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.. Parasitol. Res. 112:2017–2025.
    doi: 10.1007/s00436-013-3360-0pmc: PMC3625414pubmed: 23474658google scholar: lookup
  35. Reynolds S, Hedberg M, Herrin B. Analysis of the complete mitochondrial genomes of suggests a species complex.. Ticks Tick. Borne Dis. 13:102038.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.102038pubmed: 36170783google scholar: lookup
  36. Reynolds S, Hedberg M, Herrin B. Mitochondrial genomes of the American dog tick () isolated from horses in the Midwestern United States.. Microbiol. Resour. Announc. 12:e0033022.
    doi: 10.1128/mra.00330-22pmc: PMC9872707pubmed: 36541790google scholar: lookup
  37. Rivera-Páez FA, Labruna MB, Martins TF. Contributions to the knowledge of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Colombia.. Ticks Tick. Borne Dis. 9:57–66.
    pubmed: 29055642
  38. Roby TO, Anthony DW. Transmission of equine piroplasmosis by .. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 142:768–769.
    pubmed: 13974501
  39. Strickland RK, Gerrish RR. Distribution of the tropical horse tick in the United States, with notes on associated cases of equine piroplasmosis.. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 144:875–878.
    pubmed: 14138371
  40. Swofford DL. PAUP: phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (and other methods), 4.0 beta 10.. .
  41. Tabachnick WJ, Black WC IV. Making a case for molecular population genetic studies of arthropod vectors.. Parasitol. Today 11:27–30.
    doi: 10.1016/0169-4758(95)80105-7google scholar: lookup
  42. Tajima F. Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism.. Genetics 123:585–595.
    doi: 10.1093/genetics/123.3.585pmc: PMC1203831pubmed: 2513255google scholar: lookup
  43. Wise LN, Kappmeyer LS, Mealey RH. Review of equine piroplasmosis.. J. Vet. Intern. Med. 27:1334–1346.
    doi: 10.1111/jvim.12168pubmed: 24033559google scholar: lookup
  44. Yi J, Jin Y, Liu J. Genetic variation in three mitochondrial genes among cattle tick originating from four provinces of China.. Trop. Biomed. 36:297–303.
    pubmed: 33597450
  45. Zhao X, Danqu L, Shi B. Identification and analysis of the genetic diversity of using mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI sequences in the Xizang Autonomous region of China.. Vet. Parasitol. Reg. Stud. Reports. 57:101180.
    doi: 10.1016/j.vprsr.2024.101180pubmed: 39855839google scholar: lookup

Citations

This article has been cited 0 times.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 106,180 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.