Castor bean tick vs Common seabird tick

Ixodes ricinus compared with Ixodes uriae

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Castor bean tick	Common seabird tick
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class same	Arachnida (Arachnids)	Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order same	Ixodida (Ixodida)	Ixodida (Ixodida)
Family same	Ixodidae	Ixodidae
Genus same	Ixodes	Ixodes
Species	Ixodes ricinus	Ixodes uriae

Evolutionary Relationship

Castor bean tick and Common seabird tick share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Ixodes.

Conservation Status

Castor bean tick

NE — Not Evaluated

Common seabird tick

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Castor bean tick	Common seabird tick
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Castor bean tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Found across Asia (Taiwan) and Europe (7 countries).

Common seabird tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden.

Castor bean tick

The Castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus) is a species in the genus Ixodes. Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

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