Heylen, Dieter J.A.De Coninck, ElianeJansen, FamkeMadder, Maxime2014-08-212014-08-212014-10Heylen, D, De Coninck, E, Jansen, F & Madder, M 2014, 'Differential diagnosis of three common Ixodes spp. ticks infesting songbirds of Western Europe: Ixodes arboricola, I. frontalis and I. ricinus', Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 693-700.1877-959X (print)1877-9603 (online)10.1016/j.ttbdis.2014.05.006http://hdl.handle.net/2263/41496The three most common Ixodes spp. ticks found on songbirds in Western Europe are Ixodes frontalis, I. arboricola and I. ricinus. As the latter species is a generalist, it shares several avian hosts with the two strictly ornithophilic species. Infestations of the three species can overlap in time and space, implying that tick-borne pathogens maintained by the ornithophilic ticks and their hosts could be bridged by I. ricinus to non-avian hosts. Whereas the endophilic Ixodes arboricola only occurs in cavities, I. frontalis has been collected frequently by flagging methods from understory vegetation, which is also the habitat of the fielddwelling I. ricinus. As the latter two species have rather similar morphological characteristics, they can easily be confused with each other. In this study, we present scanning electron photomicrographs of all developmental stages of I. arboricola and I. frontalis, and provide a differential diagnosis key to distinguish the ornithophilic ticks from I. ricinus. In addition, we interpreted their phylogenetic associations based on mitochondrial 16S rDNA with other Ixodes spp. ticks (I. lividus, I. turdus, I. brunneus, I. vespertilionis, I. trianguliceps, I. hexagonus, I. scapularis).en© 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 693-700, 2014. doi : 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2014.05.006.Ixodes frontalisIxodes arboricolaIxodes ricinusBorrelia burgdorferi s.l.Lyme diseaseRickettsia16S rDNAPostprint Article