2015-08-01 Dott.sa Carla Petta posted:
Ticks are bloodsucking vertebrate ectoparasites, belong to the order Acarina. There are over 870 species of, ticks divided mainly into "soft ticks" and "hard ticks". Soft ticks, which lack a dorsal shield, are further divided into two kinds: Argas and Ornithodorus. Hard ticks have a distinctive chitinous dorsal shield and there are six kinds in Italy: Ixodes, Boophilus, Hyalomna, Rhipicephalus, Dermacentor, and Haemaphysalis. The species with the possibility of contact with Man include Argas reflexus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and Ixodes ricinus.