The present study was conducted to analyze inter-relationships between Indian hard tick using mitochondrial 16s rDNA. The sequence alignment consisted of 85 sequences, 32 sequences of 16s rDNA belonging to 7 species of two genera viz. Rhipicephalus and Hyalomma generated from PCR amplified products and 53 sequences of hard ticks from India available in genbank database. The NJ analyses conducted in MEGA6 revealed that Haemaphysalinae is basal to the clade of Rhipicephalinae + Hyalomminae in the metastriate lineage while Ixodinae was basal in Ixodidae. There were two large clades, one clade of Hyalomma anatolicum, Hy. excavatum, Hy. hussaini and Hy. brevipunctata and second clade of Rhipicephalus (Rhipicephalus) + Rhipicephalus (Boophilus). The results provide evidence for the contention of polyphyly of Rh. (Rh.) sanguineus and species complex status of Rh. (B.) microplus. A further molecular study from wider distributional area using more genetic markers is needed to confirm these observations.
Key words: Phylogeny; Ixodidae; 16s rDNA; Hard ticks; India
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