Ixodes persulcatus

Ixodes persulcatus, the taiga tick, is a species of hard-bodied tick distributed from Europe through central and northern Asia to China and Japan.^[1] The sexual dimorphism of the species is marked, the male being much smaller than the female.^[2] Hosts include wild and domestic ungulates, man, dog, rabbit, and other small mammals, including the dormouse, Amur hedgehog, and occasionally birds.^[3]

Ixodes persulcatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Ixodes
Species:	I. persulcatus
Binomial name
Ixodes persulcatus (Schulze, 1930)

Disease transmission

Ixodes persulcatus ticks transmit Lyme disease, relapsing fever (Borrelia miyamotoi), babesiosis, and Siberian (TBEV-Sib) and Far Eastern (TBEV-FE) tick-borne encephalitis,^[1][4] and probably human granulocytic anaplasmosis as well.^[5] A recent study of the northernmost tick-borne encephalitis focus in Simo, Finnish Lapland, found I. persulcatus ticks in scattered foci along the western coast, including the Kokkola archipelago and Närpes municipality, demonstrating a northward movement of foci and an unusual combination of the TBEV-Eur strain and I. persulcatus ticks in an area with no evidence of cocirculation of tick species or TBEV subtypes.^[1]