The brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (sensu lato) in the southeastern Mediterranean region and the Middle East is difficult to identify due to the presence of multiple mitochondrial DNA haplogroup lineages. The purpose of this study was to clarify the identity of the "southeastern Europe" lineage of this tick species complex. Our research shows that female ticks of the "southeastern Europe" lineage correspond to the morphology of R. rutilus Koch, 1844 as found in type-material at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in Germany. We characterised the complete mitogenomes of R. rutilus, R. turanicus Pomerantsev, 1940 and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) in order to improve our understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among species within the R. sanguineus (sensu lato) complex. The material associated with the morphology of R. rutilus was previously labelled as the "southeastern Europe" lineage and found in Israel and Egypt, including Lower Egypt and the Nile Delta, where the original type-material was collected. Based on the morphology, genetic identity, and geographical distribution of the species, we conclude that the name R. rutilus is correctly linked to the "southeastern Europe" lineage of R. sanguineus (sensu lato).

Australian National Insect Collection CSIRO GPO Box 1700 Canberra Australian Capital Territory 2601 Australia

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Department of Veterinary Sciences and CINeZ FAPPZ Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Parasitology Biology Center of Czech Academy of Sciences Czech Republic

Koret School of Veterinary Medicine The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rehovot 7610001 Israel

Museum für Naturkunde Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science Invalidenstrasse 43 D 10115 Berlin Germany

Sydney School of Veterinary Science Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales 2006 Australia

The University of Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases New South Wales 2006 Australia

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