Ixodes pararicinus Keirans & Clifford, 1985

Benavides-Montaño, Javier Antonio, Betancourt-Echeverri, Jesus Antonio, Valencia, Gustavo López & Mesa-Cobo, Nora Cristina, 2022, A review of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Colombia: The risk of tick-borne diseases, Persian Journal of Acarology 11 (3), pp. 397-437 : 419

Ixodes pararicinus Keirans & Clifford, 1985 ( Fig. 12)

It is distributed in Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and probably in Peru. The adult stage parasites mammals of the order Artiodactyla , whereas immature stages feed on birds and rodents. All the stages are already described as the type species: USNTC, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 'Bernardino Rivadavia (MCN), BMNH, INTA ( Barros-Battesti et al. 2006). This tick has been classified in Colombia as Ixodes ricinus in Cattle and horses (Lopez 2017; Reyes 1948); however, they actually are I. pararicinus ( Guglielmone et al. 1992) . This species has not been reported in the literature infecting humans and most of the records come from domestic animals such as cattle, horses, sheep, and goats ( Venzal et al. 2005). In Colombia, it has been reported in cattle, horses, C. lupus familiaris and humans in Carmen de Atrato and San José del Palmar (Chocó) (Lopez 2017). Although this Ixodes has been reported as a carrier of the Lyme disease causal agent, the spirochaete B. burgdorferi s. l. ( Venzal et al. 2005), I. pararicinus , in Colombia it has not been described harboring B. burgdorferi (Mattar and Lopez Valencia 1998). Nevertheless, it is not possible to discard its role as a vector of this disease (Lopez 2017). New records in foothills of the eastern cordillera between Antioquia and Chocó confirm its presence ( Benavides et al. 2017b).