Arctic grass vs Common seabird tick

Arctagrostis latifolia compared with Ixodes uriae

Key Differences

• Arctic grass is Near Threatened while Common seabird tick is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Arctic grass	Common seabird tick
Kingdom	Plantae (planta)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Arthropoda (artrópodos)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Arachnida (arácnidos)
Order	Poales (Grasses)	Ixodida (Ixodida)
Family	Poaceae (Grass Family)	Ixodidae
Genus	Arctagrostis	Ixodes
Species	Arctagrostis latifolia	Ixodes uriae

Conservation Status

Arctic grass

NT — Near Threatened

Common seabird tick

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Arctic grass	Common seabird tick
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Arctic grass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Common seabird tick

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial habitats from forests to deserts.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden.

Arctic grass

The Arctic grass (Arctagrostis latifolia) is a species in the genus Arctagrostis. It is currently classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

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