Gynandromorphism and local morphological abnormalities in Dermacentor reticulatus (Acari: Ixodidae)

Morphological abnormalities in ticks seem to be very rare phenomena. In this paper, we describe interesting anomalies in adult Dermacentor reticulatus collected as questing ticks by flagging as part of a tick-borne encephalitis program in Battaune, Federal State of Saxony, Germany, at the end of September 2016. The observed anomalies in the three D. reticulatus adults were: general anomalies (gynandromorphism) and local anomalies (malformation of capitulum and abnormalities of appendages). One D. reticulatus specimen displayed gynandromorphism, the presence of both male and female features within the same organism. One female showed abnormal morphology of right palp, while also missing the right porose area, and multiple atrophied extremities: i.e. of the right leg IV and of the left legs III and IV. The third specimen, a male, presented an atrophied extremity of the right leg III (meiomely). This is the first report of complete mosaic type gynandromorphism in a flagged D. reticulatus and the first report of morphological abnormalities in D. reticulatus in Germany.