Ixodes unicavatus Neumann, 1908

Ixodes unicavatus Neumann, 1908: 109; Schulze 1941: 491.

Ixodes tauricus Vshivkov & Filippova, 1957: 553; Gilot and Beaucournu 1973: 131.

Recorded hosts.

Aves: Gulosus aristotelis (European shag) (Linnaeus) (Filippova 1977).

Recorded locations

(Fig. 34). Ukraine: Crimean Peninsula, in particular the Tarkhankut Peninsula, The Kara Dag, the Kerch Peninsula, the cape Kazantyp (Emchuk 1960; Filippova 1977).

Ecology and other information.

Ixodes unicavatus is an endophilic tick occurring in Europe primarily in coastal areas of the Atlantic Ocean and which can be found in its hosts’ nests and under stones near them (Filippova 2007). It uses mostly cormorants - the European shag Gulosus aristotelis and the great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo as hosts (Schulze 1932; Arthur 1963; Guiguen et al. 1987; Kolonin 2008). In Crimea, this species has been known from a little number of specimens (Serdjukova 1956; Emchuk 1960).