Alder leaf beetle vs Common seabird tick

Agelastica alni compared with Ixodes uriae

Key Differences

• Alder leaf beetle is Least Concern while Common seabird tick is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Alder leaf beetle	Common seabird tick
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order	Coleoptera (Beetles)	Ixodida (Ixodida)
Family	Chrysomelidae	Ixodidae
Genus	Agelastica	Ixodes
Species	Agelastica alni	Ixodes uriae

Evolutionary Relationship

Alder leaf beetle and Common seabird tick share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Arthropoda. (Arthropods)

Conservation Status

Alder leaf beetle

LC — Least Concern

Common seabird tick

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Alder leaf beetle	Common seabird tick
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Alder leaf beetle

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and United States.

Common seabird tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden.

Alder leaf beetle

The Alder leaf beetle (Agelastica alni) is a species in the genus Agelastica. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden