Arthropods Daily – Issue No. 346

Ixodes ricinus, a species of tick, lacks eyes and festoons, with longer palpi and an anal groove above the anus. It is the largest of the three common Ixodes species in the British Isles. Found in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, its distribution is influenced by environmental factors like temperature. The tick has a three-host lifecycle, feeding on mammals like sheep and deer before reproducing and dying. The parasitic wasp Ixodiphagus hookeri preys on castor bean ticks, and the tick's scientific name has a long taxonomic history.