Climatic suitability and phylogeography reveal cryptic diversity and public health risk in the Amblyomma testudinarium complex and other Asian Amblyomma.

Amblyomma testudinarium sensu lato, a vector of medically important pathogens, including severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus, represents a species complex known from East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Genetic and distributional data pertaining to these ticks are scattered, challenging One Health strategies. Using genetic information and distributional records of A. testudinarium s.l. and related species, we found two clades of A. testudinarium. We also found that Amblyomma javanense and Amblyomma varanense likely represent species complexes. We project the geographic ranges of the two A. testudinarium clades, highlighting variation in disease risk and gaps in knowledge that need to be answered for the betterment of public health.