Major mite taxa

test

Taxonomy

updated 2025

Common names

hard ticks, soft ticks

Probability of encounter

medium

Quarantine importance

Very high. Ticks are the most important group of disease vectors after the mosquitoes.

Diagnosis

Large parasitiform mites (to 6 mm unfed, 3 cm when engorged) with slicing mouthparts and a denticulate hypostome produced anteriorly. Integument leathery to papillate, dorsum with or without a prodorsal scutum (covering most of dorsum in males) and with or without one pair of ocelli.  Stigmatal openings on sieve plates behind coxae IV or lateral to coxae III-IV. Palps 3–4 segmented without apotele. Tarsus I with Haller's organ well developed.

Similar taxa

Macronyssidae (Mesostigmata) are superficially tick-like mites that feed on the blood of reptiles (Ophionyssus), birds and mammals (Ornithonyssus), but unlike ticks, have a well developed tritosternum, palp apotele, etc.

Ecology and distribution

Obligate blood-sucking parasites of vertebrates. Living in nests, in soil, on vegetation, and on animals. Nuttalliellidae is poorly known and restricted to southern Africa; the other two families occur worldwide. The paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) is a common ixodid tick in eastern Australia.

References

• Johnston 1982aJohnston 1982a:
  Johnston DE. 1982a. Acari. pp. 111. In: Parker SP, ed. Synopsis and classification of living organisms, Vol. 2. McGraw-Hill, New York.
• Klompen and Oliver 1993Klompen and Oliver 1993:
  Klompen JSH, Oliver JH, Jr. 1993. Haller’s organs in the tick family Argasidae (Acari: Parasitiformes: Ixodida). Journal of Parasitology 79: 591–603.
• Krantz 1978Krantz 1978:
  Krantz GW. 1978. A manual of acarology [2nd ed.]. Oregon State University Book Stores, Corvallis.
• Roberts 1970Roberts 1970:
  Roberts FHS. 1970. Australian Ticks. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
• Sonenshine 1991Sonenshine 1991:
  Sonenshine DE. 1991. The Biology of Ticks. Oxford University Press, Oxford.