Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 6, 2026

Dermacentor

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.

Last revised
Jul 6, 2026
Read time
≈ 4 min
Length
912 w
Citations
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Wikipedia ↗
Dermacentor
Temporal range:
Dermacentor occidentalis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Ixodida
Family: Ixodidae
Subfamily: Rhipicephalinae
Genus: Dermacentor
C.L.Koch, 1844 1
Type species
Dermacentor reticulatus
(Fabricius, 1794)
Synonyms
  • Amblyocentor Schulze, 1932
  • Anocentor Schulze, 1937
L>R, top down: Dermacentor marginatus, Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor andersoni, Dermacentor marginatus, Dermacentor reticulatus, Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor marginatus, Dermacentor variabilis, 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.2

Hosts of Dermacentor ticks include many large and small mammals, including horses, deer, cattle, lagomorphs, peccaries, porcupines, tapirs, desert bighorn sheep, and humans.2 The American dog tick (D. variabilis) is a member of the genus.3

Dermacentor species are vectors of many pathogens, including Rickettsia rickettsii, which causes the disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Coxiella burnetii, which causes Q fever, Anaplasma marginale, which causes anaplasmosis in cattle, Francisella tularensis, which causes tularemia, Babesia caballi, which causes equine piroplasmosis, and the Flavivirus that causes Powassan encephalitis.2 Dermacentor ticks inject a neurotoxin that causes tick paralysis.2

Species

As of 2025, 43 species are placed in the genus:4

  • Dermacentor albipictus Packard, 1869 – winter tick
  • Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, 1908 – Rocky Mountain wood tick
  • Dermacentor asper Arthur, 1960
  • 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 falsosteini Apanaskevich, Apanaskevich & Nooma, 20205
  • Dermacentor filippovae Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 20156
  • Dermacentor halli McIntosh, 1931
  • Dermacentor hunteri Bishopp, 1912
  • Dermacentor imitans Warburton 1933
  • Dermacentor kamshadalus Neumann, 19087
  • Dermacentor laothaiensis Apanaskevich et al., 20198
  • Dermacentor latus Cooley, 1937
  • Dermacentor limbooliati Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 20159
  • Dermacentor marginatus Sulzer, 1776
  • Dermacentor montanus Filippova & Panova, 1974
  • Dermacentor nitens Neumann, 1897
  • Dermacentor niveus Neumann 1897
  • Dermacentor nuttalli Olenev, 1928
  • Dermacentor occidentalis Marx, 1892 - Pacific Coast tick
  • Dermacentor panamensis Apanaskevich & Bermúdez, 201310
  • Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann, 1901
  • Dermacentor pasteuri Apanaskevich et al., 202011
  • Dermacentor pavlovskyi Olenev 1927
  • Dermacentor pomerantzevi Serdyukova, 1951
  • Dermacentor pseudocompactus Apanaskevich & Apanaskevich, 201612
  • Dermacentor raskemensis Pomerantsev, 1946
  • Dermacentor reticulatus 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, 201612
  • Dermacentor tricuspis Schulze, 19335
  • Dermacentor ushakovae Filippova & Panova 1987
  • Dermacentor variabilis Say, 1821 – wood tick, American dog tick
References

References

  1. Don R. Arthur (1960). "The genus Dermacentor: 1. General". The genera Dermacentor, Anocentor, Cosmiomma, Boophilus, Margaropus. Ticks. Vol. 5. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–37.
  2. C. E. Yunker; J. E. Keirans; C. M. Clifford; E. R. Easton (1986). "Dermacentor ticks (Acari: Ixodoidea: Ixodidae) of the New World: a scanning electron microscope atlas" (PDF). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 88 (4): 609–627. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  3. W. Chen; P. E. Kaufman (2008). "American Dog Tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (Arachnida: Ixodida: Ixodidae)". Entomology and Nematology. Florida Cooperative Extension Service. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. EENY-443. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  4. Guglielmone, Alberto A.; Petney, Trevor N.; Robbins, Richard G. (2020-11-05). "Ixodidae (Acari: Ixodoidea): descriptions and redescriptions of all known species from 1758 to December 31, 2019". Zootaxa. 4871 (1): 1–322. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4871.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334.
  5. Apanaskevich, Dmitry A.; Apanaskevich, Maria A.; Nooma, Wanwipa; Ahantarig, Arunee; Trinachartvanit, Wachareeporn (2021-06-01). "Reinstatement of Dermacentor tricuspis (Schulze, 1933) n. comb., n. stat. (Acari: Ixodidae) as a valid species, synonymization of D. atrosignatus Neumann, 1906 and description of a new species from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand". Systematic Parasitology. 98 (3): 207–230. doi:10.1007/s11230-021-09972-6. ISSN 1573-5192.
  6. Apanaskevich, Dmitry A.; Apanaskevich, Maria A. (September 2015). "Description of a New Dermacentor (Acari: Ixodidae) Species from Thailand and Vietnam". Journal of Medical Entomology. 52 (5): 806–812. doi:10.1093/jme/tjv067. PMC 4668757. PMID 26336207.
  7. Dmitry 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.
  8. Apanaskevich, Dmitry A.; Chaloemthanetphong, Aummarin; Vongphayloth, Khamsing; Ahantarig, Arunee; Apanaskevich, Maria A.; Brey, Paul T.; Hertz, Jeffrey C.; Lakeomany, Khaithong; Sutherland, Ian W.; Trinachartvanit, Wachareeporn (20 May 2019). "Description of a new species of Dermacentor Koch, 1844 (Acari: Ixodidae) from Laos and Thailand". Systematic Parasitology. 96 (6): 475–484. doi:10.1007/s11230-019-09861-z. PMID 31111306. S2CID 160013314.
  9. Apanaskevich, M. A.; Apanaskevich, D. A. (25 February 2015). "Description of New Dermacentor (Acari: Ixodidae) Species from Malaysia and Vietnam". Journal of Medical Entomology. 52 (2): 156–162. doi:10.1093/jme/tjv001. PMC 4481718. PMID 26336300.
  10. Dmitry A. Apanaskevich; Sergio E. Bermúdez (2013). "Description of a new Dermacentor (Acari: Ixodidae) species, a parasite of wild mammals in Central America". Journal of Medical Entomology. 50 (6): 1190–1201. doi:10.1603/ME13121. PMID 24843922.
  11. Dmitry 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.
  12. Dmitry 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.
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