Ixodidae
Family of ticks
The Ixodidae are the family of hard ticks or scale ticks, one of the three families of ticks, consisting of 750 species, as of 2025. They are known as 'hard ticks' because they have a scutum or hard shield, which the other major family of ticks, the 'soft ticks' (Argasidae), lack. They are ectoparasites of a wide range of host species, and some are vectors of pathogens that can cause human disease.
01Description
The Ixodidae are distinguished from the Argasidae by the presence of a scutum. In both the nymph and the adult, a prominent gnathosoma (or capitulum, mouth and feeding parts) projects forward from the animal's body; in the Argasidae, conversely, the gnathosoma is concealed beneath the body.
Ixodidae attach to a host bite painlessly and are generally unnoticed, and they remain in place until they engorge and are ready to moult; this process may take days or weeks. Some species drop off the host to moult in a safe place, whereas others remain on the same host and only drop off once they are ready to lay their eggs.
02Classification
The Ixodidae is divided into two groups: the Prostriata and the Metastriata, distinguished by the position of the anal groove, which is anterior in the former, and posterior in the latter. The Metastriata are further divided into two lineages, Amblyocephalus and Haematobothrion. As of 2025, the Ixodidae is composed of 769 extant species in 18 genera, in addition to two fossil genera.
| Ixodidae cladogram after Barker et al., (2024) |
| Lineage | Genera | # of Species | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prostriata | Ixodinae | Ixodes Latreille, 1795 | 274 |
| Metastriata | Amblyocephalus | Amblyomma Koch, 1844 | 135 |
| Anomalohimalaya Hoogstraal, Kaiser & Mitchell, 1970 | 3 | ||
| Cosmiomma Schulze, 1919 | 1 | ||
| Dermacentor Koch, 1844 | 43 | ||
| Hyalomma Koch, 1844 | 28 | ||
| Margaropus Karsch, 1879 | 3 | ||
| Nosomma Schulze, 1919 | 1 | ||
| Rhipicentor Nuttall & Warburton, 1908 | 2 | ||
| Rhipicephalus Koch, 1844 | 90 | ||
| Haematobothrion | Alloceraea Schulze, 1919 | 6 | |
| Archaeocroton Dumbleton, 1943 | 1 | ||
| Bothriocroton Keirans, King & Sharrad, 1994 | 7 | ||
| Cryptocroton Barker & Barker | 1 | ||
| Haemaphysalis Koch, 1844 | 170 | ||
| Sharifiella Santos Dias, 1958 | 1 | ||
| Unresolved | Africaniella Travassos Dias, 1974 | 2 | |
| Robertsicus Barker & Burger, 2018 | 1 | ||
| 769 | |||
Fossil genera
- †Compluriscutula - 1 species, Poinar and Buckley 2008 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
- †Cornupalpatum - 1 species, Poinar and Brown 2003 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
The Ixodidae is also sometimes classified by its subfamilies, but the current formulations do not encompass all species. There are currently five recognised subfamilies:
- Amblyomminae - comprising Amblyomma.
- Bothriocrotoninae - comprising Bothriocroton.
- Haemaphysalinae - comprising Haemaphysalis.
- Ixodinae - comprising Ixodes.
- Rhipicephalinae - comprising Dermacentor, Margaropus, Rhipicephalus, Rhipicentor, Hyalomma and Nosomma.
03Medical importance
Many hard ticks are of considerable medical importance, acting as vectors of diseases caused by bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, such as Rickettsia and Borrelia. Other tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, Southern tick-associated rash illness, tick-borne relapsing fever, tularemia, Colorado tick fever, Powassan encephalitis, and Q fever. Ixodid ticks are the primary vectors of tick paralysis, which can affect domestic dogs, cats and livestock, as well as humans.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ixodidae”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Ixodus ricinus 5x.jpg by Richard Bartz, CC BY-SA 2.5
- Ticks Donitz.jpg by Wilhelm Dönitz (d. 1912), Public domain
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
