Diversity of tick species on domestic animals in Shandong Province, China, using DNA barcoding

Ticks are considered to be second only to mosquitoes as vectors of diseases. In recent years, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, a new emerging tick-borne disease has been detected in many areas of China, including Shandong Province, Eastern China. Here, we report the tick species diversity based on surveys between 2014 and 2016 covering 16 locations in seven cities of Shandong. Based on DNA barcoding, 1859 ticks belonging to three species were identified: Haemaphysalis longicornis, Rhipicephalus turanicus and Haemaphysalis verticalis. Samples of the same species clustered together in a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree, with intraspecific distances between 0 and 3.0% and interspecific distances ranged between 15.5 and 24.3%. Goats and dogs were the major hosts of ticks and H. longicornis was regarded as predominant tick species of Shandong. In order to reduce tick populations and prevent tick-borne diseases, effective control measures should be implemented on human and domestic animals, respectively.