330
3. The two extinct hard tick genera may be related to the extant genus Amblyomma;
first reported in Burmese amber by Klompen in Grimaldi et al. (2002) with a
formally described Amblyomma species (Fig.  9.5c) added by Chitimia-Dobler
et al. (2017). Amblyomma usually feed on reptiles today. Another extant genus,
Haemaphysalis (Fig.  9.5b) has also been described from Burmese amber
(Chitimia- Dobler et  al. 2018). Modern Haemaphysalis species typically
Fig. 9.5 Fossil ticks (obligate ectoparasites of vertebrates) preserved in amber. (a) Deinocroton
draculi (Peñalver et  al. 2017) (Deinocrotonidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. (b)
Haemaphysalis (Alloceraea) cretacea (Chitimia-Dobler et  al. 2017) (Ixodidae) from Burmese
amber. (c) Amblyomma birmitum (Chitimia-Dobler et al. 2017) (Ixodidae) from Burmese amber.
(d) Cornupalpatum burmanicum (Poinar Jr  and Brown 2003) from Burmese amber. (e) Ixodes
succineus (Weidner 1964) (Ixodidae) from Eocene Baltic amber. (f) Ornithodoros antiquus (Poinar
Jr 1995) from Miocene Dominican amber. (Image a courtesy of Enrique Peñalver, b and c courtesy
of Lidia Chitimia-Dobler, d and f courtesy of George Poinar Jr.)
J. A. Dunlop