Common seabird tick vs Dheeb

Ixodes uriae compared with Canis lupus

Key Differences

• Common seabird tick is Not Evaluated while Dheeb is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common seabird tick	Dheeb
Kingdom same	Animalia (حيوانات)	Animalia (حيوانات)
Phylum	Arthropoda (مفصليات الأرجل)	Chordata (حبليات)
Class	Arachnida (عنكبيات)	Mammalia (ثدييات)
Order	Ixodida (لبوديات الشكل)	Carnivora (لواحم)
Family	Ixodidae	Canidae (Dogs & Wolves)
Genus	Ixodes	Canis (Dogs & Wolves)
Species	Ixodes uriae	Canis lupus

Evolutionary Relationship

Common seabird tick and Dheeb share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (حيوانات)

Conservation Status

Common seabird tick

NE — Not Evaluated

Dheeb

CR — Critically Endangered

Population: ~300.0K

Trend: Stable →

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common seabird tick	Dheeb
Diet	—	Carnivore
Average Lifespan	—	13 years
Average Length	—	1.6 m
Average Weight	—	45.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common seabird tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden.

Dheeb

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, deserts and xeric shrublands, and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, among 13 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Seychelles), Asia (Japan), Europe (5 countries), North America (7 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (Marshall Islands, Vanuatu), and South America (5 countries). Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Common seabird tick

<em>Ixodes uriae</em>, the common seabird tick, is a hard tick in the family Ixodidae, order Ixodida, distributed across subarctic and subantarctic regions with records from Norway and Sweden. This species is an obligate ectoparasite that specializes in feeding on colonial seabirds, including auks, penguins, and petrels, making it one of the few tick species with a genuinely circumpolar distribution tied to its avian hosts. <em>Ixodes uriae</em> typically infests birds in their nesting colonies, where dense aggregations and repeated site fidelity by hosts facilitate transmission. Beyond its direct parasitic impact, this tick serves as a vector for various pathogens, including Borrelia spirochetes and tick-borne encephalitis-related viruses, making it of scientific interest for disease ecology in seabird populations. The species has not been formally evaluated by the IUCN, and its conservation status remains Not Evaluated. Biological traits for this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature, including comprehensive data on average lifespan under natural conditions, body dimensions across life stages, weight, and the full range of its host and pathogen associations.

Dheeb

The most widely distributed wild canid, gray wolves range from North America across Eurasia in diverse habitats including tundra, forests, and grasslands. Highly social animals living in family packs led by a dominant breeding pair. As keystone predators, wolves regulate prey populations and profoundly shape ecosystem structure, as demonstrated by their reintroduction in Yellowstone. Once heavily persecuted, populations are recovering in many regions.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden