The tick fauna of Sulawesi, Indonesia (Acari: Ixodoidea: Argasidae and Ixodidae) Lance A. Durden Æ Stefan Merker Æ Lorenza Beati Received: 4 November 2007 / Accepted: 19 March 2008 / Published online: 22 April 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract Twenty-six species of ticks are reported from the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia. These include two species of soft ticks (Argasidae), Carios batuensis and C. vespertilionis, and the following 24 species of hard ticks (Ixodidae): Amblyomma babirussae, A. breviscutatum, A. cordiferum, A. fimbriatum, A. helvolum, A. testudinari- um, A. trimaculatum, A. varanense, Dermacentor atrosignatus, D. steini, Haemaphysalis celebensis, H. hystricis, H. kadarsani, H. papuana, H. psalistos, H. renschi, H. toxopei, H. wellingtoni, Ixodes cordifer, I. granulatus, Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, R. (Boophilus) microplus, R. pilans and R. sanguineus. This represents an almost three-fold increase in the number of tick species recorded (9) from Sulawesi since the last available list in 1950. The tick records reported herein represent a culmination of data from spec- imens in the U.S. National Tick Collection, new records of ticks from endemic tarsiers and associated vertebrates, and literature reviews. Collectively, the tick fauna of Sulawesi shows most affinities with the fauna of southeast Asia but there are distinct faunal elements that show relationships with other Indonesian islands, the Philippines or Australasia, as well as a few tick species with widespread geographical distributions. Some ticks known from Sulawesi have known or potential medical-veterinary significance. These include R. (B.) microplus which is a significant pest of cattle and a vector of the agents of bovine anaplasmosis, I. granulatus which is a vector of Langat virus and Lyme disease spirochetes and has been shown to harbor pathogenic rickettsiae in other parts of its range, and R. sanguineus which is a globally widespread ectoparasite of canines and a vector of canine pathogens and parasites. L. A. Durden (&) Department of Biology and Institute of Arthropodology & Parasitology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8042, USA e-mail: ldurden@georgiasouthern.edu S. Merker Institut fuer Anthropologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Colonel-Kleinmann-Weg 2 (SB II), 55099 Mainz, Germany L. Beati U.S. National Tick Collection and Institute of Arthropodology & Parasitology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8056, USA 123 Exp Appl Acarol (2008) 45:85–110 DOI 10.1007/s10493-008-9144-z