''Haemaphysalis hispanica'' is a

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 by ...

species found in Europe. It is a relict parasite of the European rabbit, ''

Oryctolagus cuniculus The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France), western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa. It has b ...

.'' It may have no role in transmitting pathogens to humans, but it is of importance in the epidemiology of certain diseases by maintaining the

etiologic agent Cause, also known as etiology () and aetiology, is the Causality, reason or origination of something. The word ''etiology'' is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek , ''aitiologia'', "giving a reason for" (, ''aitia'', "cause"; and , ''wikt:-logi ...

in a tick–vertebrate–tick cycle that can be intruded into by immature or adult stages of species that sometimes

parasitize Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

humans. ''H. hispanica'' is related to species parasitizing carnivores in Asia and Madagascar, and

hyrax Hyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Typically, they measure between long and weigh between . They are superficially simil ...

es in the Ethiopian Faunal Region. The male is 1.5 mm in length from the Palps, palpal apices to the posterior Scute, scutal margin, and 1.0 mm in breadth. The female resembles the male except for Secondary sex characteristic, secondary sexual characters. Both are of reddish-yellow color.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10515688 Ticks Animals described in 1938 Arachnids of Africa Ixodidae