phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at o:3882 DOI 10.1017/S0031182024000477 Nuttalliellidae in Burmese amber: Implications for Tick Evolution Ticks are composed of 3 extant families (Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae) and 2 extinct families (Deinocrotonidae and Khimairidae). The Nuttalliellidae possess one extant species (Nuttalliella namaqua) limited to the Afrotropic region. A basal relationship to the hard and soft tick families and its limited distribution suggested an origin for ticks in the Afrotropics. The Deinocrotonidae has been found in Burmese amber from Myanmar and Iberian amber from Spain, suggesting a wider distribution of the lineage composed of Deinocrotonidae and Nuttalliellidae. The current study describes 8 fossils from mid-Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma) Burmese amber: 2 Deinocroton species (Deinocroton bicornis sp. nov.; Deinocroton lacrimus sp. nov.), 5 Nuttalliella species (Nuttalliella gratae sp. nov., Nuttalliella tuberculata sp. nov., Nuttalliella placaventrala sp. nov., Nuttalliella odyssea sp. nov., Nuttalliella tropicasylvae sp. nov.) and a new genus and species (Legionaris nov. gen., Legionaris robustus sp. nov.). The argument is advanced that Deinocroton do not warrant its own family, but forms part of the Nuttalliellidae comprising 3 genera, Deinocroton, Legionaris nov. gen. and Nuttalliella). Affinities of Burmese tick fossils to the Australasian region, specifically related to rifting of the Burma terrane from northern Australia ~150 million years ago, suggest that Nuttalliella had a much wider distribution than its current limited distribution. The distribution of Nuttalliella likely stretched from Africa over Antarctica and much of Australia, suggesting that extant members of this family may still be found in Australia. Considerations for the geographic origins of ticks conclude that an Afrotropic origin can as yet not be discarded. eng Animals Fossils Amber Myanmar Biological Evolution Ticks Classification Ticks Anatomy & Histology Phylogeny Southeast Asian People 2025-02-24T09:55:55.734Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Chitimia-Dobler;Lidia; FN:Lidia Chitimia-Dobler X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8544-1945 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Handschuh;Stephan; FN:Stephan Handschuh X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2140-7892 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Dunlop;Jason A.; FN:Jason A. Dunlop X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0179-6640 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Pienaar;Ronel; FN:Ronel Pienaar X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9096-0237 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Mans;Ben J.; FN:Ben J. Mans X-ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0177-0029 END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 application/pdf 2220527 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3882 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:3882/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline