Haemaphysalis leporispalustris | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
Class: | Arachnida |
Order: | Ixodida |
Family: | Ixodidae |
Genus: | Haemaphysalis |
Species: | H. leporispalustris
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Binomial name | |
Haemaphysalis leporispalustris Packard, 1869
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Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, the rabbit tick (occasionally known as the grouse tick), is a species of tick that is widely distributed in the Americas, stretching from Alaska to Argentina. H. leporispalustris is known to have one of the largest distributions for a tick originating in the New World. It is a three-host tick and a member of the family Ixodidae, commonly called the "hard ticks," and the genus Haemaphysalis.[1] Its common hosts are rabbits (such as Sylvilagus spp.), hares (Lepus spp.), and sometimes ground-feeding birds.[2] H. leporispalustris has a rigid scutum and a prominent capitulum projecting forward from its body and is often said to look like the "wood tick".[3][4] It has a hemimetabolic life cycle. H. leporispalustris does not play a prominent role in disease transmission in humans but is a vector for disease in other animals.