A new record of <i>Ixodes ovatus</i> (Ixodida: Ixodidae) from the Kingdom of Bhutan

An adult female tick was collected from the lower eyelid of a small dog along, possibly domestic, the trail, generally referred to as Tiger’s Nest or Taktsang Palphug Monastery, Paro District, Kingdom of Bhutan. Morphological observation of the specimen confirmed it to be Ixodes ovatus Neumann, 1899 (Ixodida: Ixodidae), the first recorded of this species and the genus Ixodes from Bhutan. The specimen was identified as I. ovatus based on the following morphological features: coxa I with a short, blunt internal spur; posterior part of coxa I covered with milky white, membranous, eavelike elevation (syncoxa present); coxa II and III without spur; posterior half of coxa II and III covered with milky white, membranous, eave-like elevation (syncoxa present). On the basis of a partial sequence (407 bp: LC498630) of mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene obtained from the specimen, the results of the ML phylogenetic analysis indicated that this species forms a relatively well-supported clade (bootstrap value: 85%) with an I. ovatus specimen (OM317739) collected from Yunnan, China, which belongs to one of the groups in the previously reported I. ovatus species complex. Previous studies have identified several genetically distinct groups within the I. ovatus species complex, which may correspond to different species, collected from Sichuan and Yunnan areas in China. A broad-leaved evergreen forest belt characterized by a continuous flora extends from the Himalayas in the west through the Yunnan and Sichuan areas to Japan in the east. Although this study is based on a short sequence from a single individual collected in Bhutan, the genetic relationship was indicated with the population in Yunnan highlights the need of further investigation into the genetic diversity of this taxon across regions spanning South Asia to East Asia.