Ixodes ricinus Skovflåt (Castor bean tick)
Order: Acarina: Mites and ticks | Family: Ixodidae: Hard ticks
Specific morphology of I. ricinus: Engorged (fully blood-fed) female up to 15 mm long. Body shape resembling a castor bean (seed). The tiny scutum is visible immediately behind the rectangular basis capituli. Long, club-shaped pedipalps.		Male: The brown, hairy scutum (2 mm long) is covering the abdomen completely. Basis capituli is more clearly rectangular with relatively shorter pedipalps than the female. The anal groove is very distinct.
Hosts: All mammals. (Three-host ticks, common in DK).
Morphology of Ixodes spp.: Acarine arthropods of ixodid type consisting of cephalothorax with hypostome, pedipalps and basis capituli (rectangular in Ixodes) anteriorly and a bigger abdominal part with 4 pairs of legs posteriorly (3 pairs in larvae). All stages have a hard chitinous scutum covering the dorsal surface of the abdomen completely in males, but partly in females, nymphs and larvae, leaving a leathery abdominal sack visible in these stages. Anal groove, surrounding the anal opening anteriorly, is most distinct in males.