''Dermacentor'' is a genus of

tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living ...

s in the family

Ixodidae The Ixodidae are the family of hard ticks or scale ticks, one of the three families of ticks, consisting of over 700 species. They are known as 'hard ticks' because they have a scutum or hard shield, which the other major family of ticks, the 'sof ...

, the hard ticks. The genus has a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The extr ...

, with native species on all continents except

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Most occur in the

Nearctic realm The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

. Hosts of ''Dermacentor'' ticks include many large and small mammals, including

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

lagomorphs The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Ancient Greek ''lagos'' (λαγ� ...

, peccaries,

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethiz ...

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inh ...

desert bighorn sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The ...

, and humans. The American dog tick (''D. variabilis'') is a member of the genus. ''Dermacentor'' species are vectors of many

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a g ...

s, including '' Rickettsia rickettsii'', which causes the disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever, '' Coxiella burnetii'', which causes Q fever, ''

Anaplasma ''Anaplasma'' is a genus of bacteria of the alphaproteobacterial order Rickettsiales, family Anaplasmataceae. ''Anaplasma'' species reside in host blood cells and lead to the disease anaplasmosis. The disease most commonly occurs in areas wher ...

marginale'', which causes

anaplasmosis Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease affecting ruminants, dogs, and horses, and is caused by ''Anaplasma'' bacteria. Anaplasmosis is an infectious but not contagious disease. Anaplasmosis can be transmitted through mechanical and biological vector ...

in cattle, ''

Francisella tularensis ''Francisella tularensis'' is a pathogenic species of Gram-negative coccobacillus, an aerobic bacterium. It is nonspore-forming, nonmotile, and the causative agent of tularemia, the pneumonic form of which is often lethal without treatment. It ...

'', which causes tularemia, '' Babesia caballi'', which causes

equine piroplasmosis Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a ''Babesia'' or ''Theileria'', in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission via tic ...

, and the '' Flavivirus'' that causes Powassan encephalitis. ''Dermacentor'' ticks inject a

neurotoxin Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function in both developing and mature nerv ...

that causes tick paralysis.

Species

As of 2019, about 41 species are placed in the genus: *'' Dermacentor abaensis'' Teng, 1963 *''

Dermacentor albipictus ''Dermacentor albipictus'', the winter tick, is a species of hard tick that parasitizes many different mammal species in North America. It is commonly associated with cervid species such as elk (''Cervus canadensis''), white-tailed deer (''Odoco ...

'' Packard, 1869 – winter tick *'' Dermacentor andersoni'' Stiles, 1908 – Rocky Mountain wood tick *'' Dermacentor asper'' Arthur, 1960 *'' Dermacentor atrosignatus'' Neumann, 1906 *'' Dermacentor auratus'' Supino, 1897 *'' Dermacentor bellulus'' Schulze, 1933 *'' Dermacentor circumguttatus'' Neumann, 1897 *'' Dermacentor compactus'' Neumann, 1901 *'' Dermacentor confragus'' Schulze, 1933 *'' Dermacentor dispar'' Cooley, 1937 *'' Dermacentor dissimilis'' Cooley, 1947 *'' Dermacentor everestianus'' Hirst, 1926 *''

Dermacentor filippovae ''Dermacentor'' is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with native species on all continents except Australia. Most occur in the Nearctic realm. Hosts of ''Dermacentor'' ticks inc ...

'' Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2015 *'' Dermacentor halli'' McIntosh, 1931 *''

Dermacentor hunteri ''Dermacentor'' is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with native species on all continents except Australia. Most occur in the Nearctic realm. Hosts of ''Dermacentor'' ticks inc ...

'' Bishopp, 1912 *'' Dermacentor imitans'' Warburton 1933 *'' Dermacentor kamshadalus'' Neumann, 1908Dmitry A Apanaskevich, Stephen C Barker, ''Dermacentor kamshadalus'' (Acari: Ixodidae), a Tick of Mountain Goats and Sheep in Western United States, Canada, and Russia, Is a Valid Species, ''Journal of Medical Entomology'', tjaa190, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjaa190. *'' Dermacentor laothaiensis'' Apanaskevich et al., 2019 *'' Dermacentor latus'' Cooley, 1937 *'' Dermacentor limbooliati'' Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2015 *'' Dermacentor marginatus'' Sulzer, 1776 *'' Dermacentor montanus'' Filippova & Panova, 1974 *'' Dermacentor nitens'' Neumann, 1897 *'' Dermacentor niveus'' Neumann 1897 *'' Dermacentor nuttalli'' Olenev, 1928 *''

Dermacentor occidentalis ''Dermacentor'' is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with native species on all continents except Australia. Most occur in the Nearctic realm. Hosts of ''Dermacentor'' ticks inc ...

'' Marx, 1892 - Pacific Coast tick *'' Dermacentor panamensis'' Apanaskevich & Bermúdez, 2013 *'' Dermacentor parumapertus'' Neumann, 1901 *'' Dermacentor pasteuri'' Apanaskevich et al., 2020Dmitry Apanaskevich, Khamsing Vongphayloth, Pattraporn Jeangkhwoa, Aummarin Chaloemthanetphong, Arunee Ahantarig, Maria Apanaskevich, Paul T. Brey, Khaithong Lakeomany, Wachareeporn Trinachartvanit. 2020. Description of a new species of ''Dermacentor'' Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) from the mountains of Laos and Thailand. ''Systematic Parasitology'', https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-020-09916-6. Last accessed 11 Jun 2020. *'' Dermacentor pavlovskyi'' Olenev 1927 *'' Dermacentor pomerantzevi'' Serdyukova, 1951 *'' Dermacentor pseudocompactus'' Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2016Dmitry A. Apanaskevich and Maria A. Apanaskevich. 2016. Description of Two New Species of ''Dermacentor'' Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) From Oriental Asia. ''Systematic Parasitology'' 2016 Feb;93(2):159-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-015-9614-8. Epub 2016 Jan 20. *'' Dermacentor raskemensis'' Pomerantsev, 1946 *''

Dermacentor reticulatus ''Dermacentor reticulatus'', also known as the ornate cow tick, ornate dog tick, meadow tick, and marsh tick, is a species of tick from the family Ixodidae. It is the type species for the genus ''Dermacentor''. ''D. reticulatus'' is an ornate ti ...

'' Fabricius, 1794 – ornate cow tick, ornate dog tick, meadow tick, marsh tick *'' Dermacentor rhinocerinus'' Denny, 1843 *'' Dermacentor silvarum'' Olenev 1931 *'' Dermacentor sinicus'' Schulze, 1932 *'' Dermacentor steini'' Schulze, 1933 *'' Dermacentor taiwanensis'' Sugimoto, 1935 *'' Dermacentor tamokensis'' Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 2016 *'' Dermacentor ushakovae'' Filippova & Panova 1987 *'' Dermacentor variabilis'' Say, 1821 – wood tick, American dog tick

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2714520 Ticks Acari genera Parasitic arthropods of mammals Ixodidae