Application of DNA barcodes in the genetic diversity of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Kazakhstan

Forty-five tick species have been recorded in Kazakhstan. However, their genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships, particularly when compared to ticks in neighbouring countries, remain unclear. In the present study, 148 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence data from our laboratory and NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) data were used to address this knowledge gap. Phylogenetic analyses showed that i) Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum (Koch, 1844) ticks from Jambyl Oblast (southeastern Kazakhstan) and Gansu Province (northwestern China) constituted a newly deviated clade; and ii) Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1974) ticks from South Kazakhstan Oblast were closer to those in Romania and Turkey. The network diagram of haplotypes showed that i) the H-1 and H-2 haplotypes of Dermacentor marginatus (Sulzer, 1776) ticks from Zhetisu and Almaty were all newly evolved; and ii) the H-3 haplotypes of Haemaphysalis erinacei (Pavesi, 1884) from Almaty Oblast and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (northwestern China) were evolved from the H-1 haplotype from Italy. In the future, more COI data from different tick species, especially from Kazakhstan and neighbouring countries, should be employed in the field of tick DNA barcoding.