I found grey colored ticks on Sceloporus (Western Fence Lizard). About 1 mm or less in size. They are adults because they have 4 pairs of limbs. Two pairs of forelimbs close to the mouth and two pairs of hindlimbs close to the anus. Very different from Ixodid ticks with the four pairs in the front.
They don't have any cephalic or opistosomal platelet, like Ixodid ticks have.I need help in identifying them to family level. Any clues? Please see the attached pictures.
They are not ticks but mites! Continue to collect as clear as possible images of dorsal,ventral, palps,legs area, mouth/part area, then get a good text and follow identification keys! The idiosomal cuticule seems covered regularly with short setae a peculiar characteristic that may help pin down the taxa
I think to increase the chance of diagnosis, take a few full photos of the dorsal and ventral surfaces.
This Acari specimen is a mite.
By photos, the spricular plates (peritremes) are absent near on its legs. The Capitulum (basis, hipostome, palpes and other adjacent structures) are different than those in ticks Argasidae or Ixodidae (Metastigmata/Ixodoidea/ Metastigmata).
I suggest you to see structures on stereomicroscope (or a equivalent eletronic microscope). After these procedures, clarify (using Nesbitt or Lactophenol solutions) to improve the analyzes in conventional transmission microscope. Pay attention in respiratory system, capitulum and the plates (on the idiosoma), because these are important structures to indentify the Suborder, Cohort and/ Family.
there is a group of mite parasites of lizards with similar shape, you should take a look inside them. The name of the family is Pterygosomatidae.]
There is a good paper about the family
Bochkov AV, O'Connor BM. 2006. A review of the external morphology of the family pterygosomatidae and its systematic position within the Prostigmata (Acari: Acariformes). Parazitologia
But, please, send more photos
Hello:
you will need better pictures to discriminate inside Acari
Best wishes
Marcelo
Yes, I agree that the specimen is a mite. You need to observe the dorsal, ventral, legs and mouth part. Try to describe and match with the keys from books or papers.
Identifications of mites based solely upon photographs (i.e., without access to actual voucher specimens) is always risky, so my following opinion is no more than a tentative educated guess. However, the expected pterygosomatid mite on western fence lizards is Geckobiella texana, and I see nothing in your photos to argue against that surmise here. The tarsal/pretarsal structures shown in the first photo are perfectly compatible with a Geckobiella sp., the magnified idiosomal setae in the penultimate photo look like those of G. texana, and finally, the last photo shows the body of the mite to be densely setate. Only two species of Geckobiella are hypertrichous like this, and G. texana is one of them (the other is G. harrisi, a South American species infesting tropidurid lizards). The genus Geckobiella was recently reviewed by Paredes-Leon et al. (2012. Zootaxa 3510: 1 - 40), a good source for more information .
This Acari specimen is a mite and a Tick; you need to see for more details based on identification keys of mite.
good luck
I think that it is a mite of the family Pterygosomatidae. Look at Kranz et al. 3rd edition. A manual of acarology. Texas tech University press
From the pictures shown it is almost certainly not Geckobiella texana or Geckobiella harrisi. It is certainly not Geckobiella diolii. Perhaps Geckobiella variabilis
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