Ticks are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. The timing of the origin of ticks is uncertain, though the oldest known tick fossils are from the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years old. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates.
Ixodes holocyclus, commonly known as the Australian paralysis tick, is one of about 75 species in the Australian tick fauna and is considered the most medically important. It can cause paralysis by injecting neurotoxins into its host. It is usually found in a 20-kilometre wide band following the eastern coastline of Australia. Within this range Ixodes holocyclus is the tick most frequently encountered by humans and their pets. As this area also contains Australia's most densely populated regions, bites on people, pets and livestock are relatively common.
Dermacentor variabilis, also known as the American dog tick or wood tick, is a species of tick that is known to carry bacteria responsible for several diseases in humans, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. It is one of the best-known hard ticks. Diseases are spread when it sucks blood from the host. It may take several days for the host to experience symptoms.
Ixodes is a genus of hard-bodied ticks. It includes important disease vectors of animals and humans, and some species inject toxins that can cause paralysis. Some ticks in this genus may transmit the pathogenic bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi responsible for causing Lyme disease. Additional organisms that may be transmitted by Ixodes are parasites from the genus Babesia, which cause babesiosis, and bacteria from the related genus Anaplasma, which cause anaplasmosis.
Ixodes scapularis is commonly known as the deer tick or black-legged tick, and in some parts of the US as the bear tick. It was also named Ixodes dammini until it was shown to be the same species in 1993. It is a hard-bodied tick found in the eastern and northern Midwest of the United States as well as in southeastern Canada. It is a vector for several diseases of animals, including humans and is known as the deer tick owing to its habit of parasitizing the white-tailed deer. It is also known to parasitize mice, lizards, migratory birds, etc. especially while the tick is in the larval or nymphal stage.
Ixodes ricinus, the castor bean tick, is a chiefly European species of hard-bodied tick. It may reach a length of 11 mm (0.43 in) when engorged with a blood meal, and can transmit both bacterial and viral pathogens such as the causative agents of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis.
Rhipicephalus sanguineus, commonly called the brown dog tick, kennel tick, or pantropical dog tick, is a species of tick found worldwide, but more commonly in warmer climates. This species is unusual among ticks in that its entire lifecycle can be completed indoors. The brown dog tick is easily recognized by its reddish-brown color, elongated body shape, and hexagonal basis capituli. Adults are 2.28 to 3.18 mm in length and 1.11 to 1.68 mm in width. They do not have ornamentation on their backs.
Dermacentor is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with native species on all continents except Australia. Most occur in the Nearctic realm.
Ixodes pacificus, the western black-legged tick, is a species of parasitic tick found on the western coast of North America. I. pacificus is a member of the Ixodidae (hard-bodied) family. It is the principal vector of Lyme disease in that region. I. pacificus typically feeds on lizards and small mammals therefore its rate of transmission of Lyme disease to humans is around 1% of adults. It is an ectoparasite that attaches itself to the outside of its host and feeds on the host's blood. It can have a heteroxenous lifestyle or monoxenous life cycle depending on how many hosts it feeds on in each cycle. I. pacificus has a four stage life cycle that takes around 3 years to complete. These stages include egg, larva, nymph, and adult. They prefer dense woodland habitats or areas of brush and tall grass.
Ixodes hexagonus, also known by the common name hedgehog tick, is a tick species in the genus Ixodes. It is a parasite of the European hedgehog.
Ticks of domestic animals directly cause poor health and loss of production to their hosts. Ticks also transmit numerous kinds of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa between domestic animals. These microbes cause diseases which can be severely debilitating or fatal to domestic animals, and may also affect humans. Ticks are especially important to domestic animals in tropical and subtropical countries, where the warm climate enables many species to flourish. Also, the large populations of wild animals in warm countries provide a reservoir of ticks and infective microbes that spread to domestic animals. Farmers of livestock animals use many methods to control ticks, and related treatments are used to reduce infestation of companion animals.
Makram Nasri Kaiser (1930–1996) was a medical and veterinary acarologist who was the world's leading authority on ticks of the genus Hyalomma.
Ixodes neuquenensis is a species of tick that lives on the monito del monte, a nocturnal marsupial that lives in the temperate forests of southern South America. Due to the near-threatened status of its host, Ixodes neuquenensis is also at risk.
Hyalomma dromedarii is a species of hard-bodied ticks belonging to the family Ixodidae.
Ixodes ceylonensis is a hard-bodied tick of the genus Ixodes. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. It is an obligate ectoparasite of mammals.
Amblyomma sphenodonti or the tuatara tick is a species that parasitises only the tuatara of New Zealand. It is found on just four of the twelve island groups where tuatara survive, preferring islands where the reptiles live in high densities. Larvae, nymphs, and adults all feed exclusively on tuatara blood, and ticks can survive for up to a year without a host. When tuatara are translocated, the tick has been lost or survives only in low densities in the new population. Recent DNA research suggests that the species does not belong in the genus Amblyomma, and should be placed in its own distinct genus.
Ixodes angustus is a species of parasitic tick, whose range encompasses the majority of Canada and the United States, along with parts of northern Mexico. I. angustus is a member of the Ixodidae (hard-bodied) family of ticks. It is most abundant in cool, moist biomes such as riparian, boreal or montane zones. I. angustus is a host generalist and has been discovered feeding on more than 90 different host species, including humans and domestic dogs. I. angustus has been identified as a potential vector for Lyme disease but is not considered a principle vector due to the relative rarity with which it feeds on humans.
Ixodes tasmani, colloquially known as the common marsupial tick, is an Australian species of hard-bodied tick. It is a common vector for certain pathogens. There are around 70 species of ticks found in Australia, 16 of which, Ixodes tasmani included, are able to parasitize humans.
Natalia Aleksandrovna Filippova was a world authority on the taxonomy of mites and especially ticks. Her monographs on the identification, morphology, development, distribution and behaviour of the family Argasidae and the sub-families of Ixodinae and Amblyomminae are standard works on these important vectors of disease.
Ixodes anatis, also called the kiwi tick, is a species of tick in the arthropod family Ixodidae. It is endemic to New Zealand and mainly parasitizes kiwi.
