Distribution, Host Records, and Rickettsia Species Associated with Dermacentor parumapertus (Acari: Ixodidae) in Western North America
ORCID
C. Paddock: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1615-8526; Ayres: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9846-9645; Faraji: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7372-0346; Beati: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4848-9701; Mertins: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9913-4567; Hecht: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2786-0057; Allerdice: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2758-3245; Goddard: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2617-7141; Karpathy: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7175-3622
MSU Affiliation
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology
Creation Date
2026-09-30
Abstract
Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann is an ixodid tick distributed broadly across arid and semi-arid regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. D. parumapertus has garnered little attention by most medical entomologists due predominantly to historical assumptions that it fed almost exclusively on lagomorphs. We summarized data from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive and current description of the distribution, host records, and Rickettsia species associated with this understudied species of potential medical importance. By using historical and recent scientific literature, natural history museum records, and archival collection records from the US National Tick Collection and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)-National Veterinary Services Laboratories, we compiled county- and municipality-level locality records for D. parumapertus from 119 counties in 14 US states, and 12 municipalities in 10 states in Mexico. We further identified host records for nymphs and adults of D. parumapertus from 52 vertebrate species. From 199 field-collected adult D. parumapertus, we detected DNA of Rickettsia bellii, Rickettsia rhipicephali, and the potentially pathogenic Rickettsia parkeri Black Gap genotype in 61.3%, 4.5%, and 4.0% of the total specimens, respectively. From these data and information acquired from historical and recent scientific literature, we identified the occurrence of R. parkeri-infected D. parumapertus from 10 counties in 6 US states, and 2 municipalities in 2 states in Mexico. Collectively, these findings indicate broad distribution of D. parumapertus in western North America, a broader range of hosts than summarized previously, and association of this tick with a potential pathogen in several US states and municipalities of Mexico.
Keywords
Atlantic rainforest, Black Gap, black-tailed jackrabbit, rabbit dermacentor, rickettsiosis
Publication Date
4-27-2026
Publication Title
Journal of Medical Entomology
Publisher
Oxford University Press; Entomological Society of America
Rights
This article is a work of the United States government. Such works are not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. law and are therefore in the public domain. This act only applies to U.S. domestic copyright as that is the extent of U.S. federal law. The U.S. government asserts that it can still hold the copyright to those works in other countries https://www.usa.gov/government-works
Recommended Citation
Christopher D Paddock, Maria L Zambrano, Jackson H Paddock, Bryan Ayres, Ary Faraji, Stephen Ladd-Wilson, James R Clover, Andrés M López-Pérez, Lorenza Beati, James W Mertins, Joy A Hecht, Michelle E J Allerdice, Jerome Goddard, Sandor E Karpathy, Distribution, host records, and Rickettsia species associated with Dermacentor parumapertus (Acari: Ixodidae) in western North America, Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 63, Issue 2, April 2026, tjag056, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjag056
