Common seabird tick vs koala

Ixodes uriae compared with Phascolarctos cinereus

Key Differences

• Common seabird tick is Not Evaluated while koala is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common seabird tick	koala
Kingdom same	Animalia (حيوانات)	Animalia (حيوانات)
Phylum	Arthropoda (مفصليات الأرجل)	Chordata (حبليات)
Class	Arachnida (عنكبيات)	Mammalia (ثدييات)
Order	Ixodida (لبوديات الشكل)	Diprotodontia (ثنائيات الأسنان الأمامية)
Family	Ixodidae	Phascolarctidae (Koalas)
Genus	Ixodes	Phascolarctos (Koalas)
Species	Ixodes uriae	Phascolarctos cinereus

Evolutionary Relationship

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

Conservation Status

Common seabird tick

NE — Not Evaluated

koala

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~100.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common seabird tick	koala
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	15 years
Average Length	—	75 cm
Average Weight	—	10.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common seabird tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden.

koala

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, forests, and vegetated habitats.

Range

Found in Australia. Currently classified as Vulnerable 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.

koala

Iconic marsupial of eastern and southeastern Australia, koalas weigh up to 15 kg and spend up to 22 hours daily sleeping to conserve energy from their low-calorie eucalyptus leaf diet. Highly specialized to process toxic eucalyptus compounds that would kill most other mammals, they have gut microbiomes uniquely adapted for detoxification. Listed as Endangered in 2022, with populations decimated by chlamydia disease, habitat clearing, and climate change.