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Rhipicephalus gertrudae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Rhipicephalus
Species:	R. gertrudae
Binomial name
Rhipicephalus gertrudae Feldman-Muhsam, 1960

Rhipicephalus gertrudae is a species of tick in the family Ixodidae. The specific epithet honors South African parasitologist Dr. Gertrud Theiler. The species was first circumscribed by Dr. Brouria Feldman-Muhsam.

Rhipicephalus gertrudae is moderate-sized, about 4 mm in length, heavily punctate, and reddish-brown in color. Adults are generalist hematophagous parasites, feeding primarily on domestic and wild herbivores such as cattle and sheep; the immatures are specialist hematophagous parasites of murid rodents. Heavy infestations have caused infant mortality in Chacma baboons in Namibia, through infestation of the muzzle causing inflammation of the nose and mouth that prevents suckling.

Distribution

Namibia and South Africa.

References

1. ^ Walker, Jane B.; Keirans, James E.; Horak, Ivan G. (2005-09-15). The Genus Rhipicephalus (Acari, Ixodidae): A Guide to the Brown Ticks of the World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-58374-6.
2. ^ Brouria Feldman-Muhsam. 1960. The South African Ticks Rhipicephalus capensis Koch and R. gertrudae n. sp. Journal of Parasitology, 46(1):101-108; "We propose to call the new species R. gertrudae in honor of Dr. Gertrud Theiler, through whose courtesy most of our material was obtained."
3. ^ Horak, Ivan G.; Heyne, Heloise; Williams, Roy; Gallivan, G. James; Spickett, Arthur M.; Bezuidenhout, J. Dürr; Estrada-Peña, Agustín (2018-02-14). The Ixodid Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) of Southern Africa. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-70642-9.
4. Mbati, Peter A.; Hlatshwayo, Motseki; Mtshali, Moses S.; Mogaswane, Kagiso R.; De Waal, Theo D.; Dipeolu, Olusegun O. (2003), Jongejan, Frans; Kaufman, W. Reuben (eds.), Ticks and tick-borne diseases of livestock belonging to resource-poor farmers in the eastern Free State of South Africa, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 217–224, doi:10.1007/978-94-017-3526-1_21, ISBN 978-94-017-3526-1, retrieved 2023-09-05

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