The genus Amblyomma is represented by approximately 138 species worldwide, ≈ 20% of all world tick species (Guglielmone et al. 2015; Okely et al. 2022). Species of this genus are distributed in Neotropical, Afrotropical, and Australasian regions, with highest diversity in the Neotropical region (Barker and Burger 2018; Horak et al. 2018). A wide range of pathogens have been reported in ticks from this genus such as Borrelia spp., Ehrlichia spp., Rickettsia spp., and Anaplasma spp. (Ogrzewalska et al. 2019; Jiang et al. 2021; Saijuntha et al. 2021; Qiu et al. 2021; Vieira et al. 2022).
In Egypt, Amblyomma ticks are represented by only six non-endemic species (Okely et al. 2022). In neighboring regions, Amblyomma spp. have been collected from domestic animals such as dromedary camels and cattle in countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Somalia (Okely et al. 2021). These species are Amblyomma eburneum Gerstäcker, 1873, Amblyomma gemma Dönitz, 1909, Amblyomma hebraeum Koch, 1844, Amblyomma lepidum Dönitz, 1909, Amblyomma marmoreum Koch, 1844, and Amblyomma variegatum (Fabricius, 1794) (Robinson 1926; Hoogstraal 1952, 1956; El Kammah et al. 2001, 2007; Ghoneim et al. 2017, 2020; Elhelw et al. 2021; Okely et al. 2021). Amblyomma eburneum was reported in Egypt from imported cattle to Cairo only once (Robinson 1926). Ghoneim et al. (2017, 2020) recorded A. hebraeum from imported dromedary camels to Basatin abattoir, Cairo. Amblyomma marmoreum was recorded by El Kammah et al. (2001, 2007), but without data about its host. Amblyomma gemma, A. lepidum, and A. variegatum have been reported in Egypt in several studies (Hoogstraal 1952, 1956; Youssef et al. 2015; Ghoneim et al. 2017, 2020; Elhelw et al. 2021; Okely et al. 2021).
The snake tick, Amblyomma latum, is a hard tick species with an Afrotropical distribution, especially prevalent in sub-Sahara African countries (Guglielmone and Robbins 2018). Several families of squamates have been recorded as the principal hosts for all parasitic stages, with immature stages also reported from rodents (Muridae), and adults occasionally collected from anurans, tortoises, rodents, and soricomorphs (Guglielmone et al. 2014, Horak et al. 2018).
In the present study, we confirm the presence of Amblyomma species in Egypt using morphological and molecular identification and estimate phylogenetic relationships between the recorded species in Egypt and other Amblyomma spp. from GenBank records. Additionally, we report the first record of A. latum infesting snakes in Egypt.