Balkan Mole vs Common seabird tick

Talpa stankovici compared with Ixodes uriae

Key Differences

• Balkan Mole is Least Concern while Common seabird tick is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Balkan Mole	Common seabird tick
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order	Soricomorpha (Soricomorpha)	Ixodida (Ixodida)
Family	Talpidae	Ixodidae
Genus	Talpa	Ixodes
Species	Talpa stankovici	Ixodes uriae

Evolutionary Relationship

Balkan Mole and Common seabird tick share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Balkan Mole

LC — Least Concern

Common seabird tick

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Balkan Mole	Common seabird tick
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Balkan Mole

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Common seabird tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden.

Balkan Mole

The Balkan Mole (Talpa stankovici) is a species in the genus Talpa. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Like other members of its genus, this species plays a role in its native ecosystem.

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.