First Record of the Tortoise Tick, Amblyomma geoemydae in West Malaysia

The tick genus Amblyomma Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) has received little attention in Malaysia; therefore, its associated hosts and distribution records are poorly known. In this study, we collected six Amblyomma sp. individuals (two larvae and four adults) that infested a common treeshrew, Tupaia glis (Diard, 1820) (Scandentia: Tupaiidae) caught in a recreational area in Sungai Lembing, Pahang (West Malaysia). The adult female ticks were morphologically identified according to taxonomic keys prior to molecular identification using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S rDNA genes. The ticks were genetically verified as Amblyomma geoemydae (Cantor, 1847) with 98%-99% similarity to the available GenBank sequences. Neighbor-joining (NJ) trees indicated that A. geoemydae was clearly distinguished from other Amblyomma ticks and this was supported with high bootstrap values. This paper is the first to report A. geoemydae ticks infesting T. glis and provides a new tick-host record from West Malaysia. This information is significant for further investigation, specifically on this tick species as potential vector of tick-borne disease (TBD) agents. Key words: Amblyomma geoemydae, Tupaia glis, tortoise tick, COI, vector