Tick maps
The tick maps are published regularly to provide the ECDC stakeholders, the scientific community and the general public with updated information on tick distribution at ‘regional’ administrative unit level (NUTS3 or equivalent and NUTS2 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, England (UK), Scotland (UK) and Wales (UK)).
Please note that the maps do not represent the official view or position of the countries.
Surveillance for ticks
The surveillance maps shows the regions where surveillance activities for ticks were held in Europe and neighbouring regions.
Distribution maps of ticks
The map shows the current known distribution of the tick species in Europe at ‘regional’ administrative level (NUTS3). They are based on published historical data and confirmed data provided by experts from the respective countries as part of the VectorNet project.
Separate maps for the distribution of each of the following tick species are currently available: Dermacentor reticulatus, Hyalomma marginatum, Ixodes persulcatus, Ixodes ricinus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Ornithodoros spp.
For native species the possible distribution statuses are:
- Present: The species has been observed to be present in at least one municipality within the administrative unit.
- Introduced: The species has been introduced in the administrative unit without confirmed establishment.
- Anticipated Absent: the species has never been reported and there is a high probability that it is absent.
- Confirmed Absent: the species has never been reported within the administrative unit and there have been field surveys or studies on ticks within the last 5 years of the distribution status date.
- No Data: No sampling has been performed and no data on the species is available.
- Unknown: The status is unknown
Areas outside the scope of the VectorNet geographical scope are colour-coded as ‘Outside scope’.
Vector distribution status changes in terms of spatial units since the previous update
Since the previous update (October 2020), changes at the NUTS3 level were recorded in 15. Data on Ixodes ricinus continues to dominate the dataset, and during this period, very few data were identified in relation to Hyalomma lusitanium or Ornithodoros erraticus. One of the most significant findings was the number of introduced records of Hyalomma marginatum outside the known endemic range, likely a result of unusually warm weather events experienced in northern/western Europe in recent years.
Updates for the seven species are as follows:
- Dermacentor reticulatus: data captured for 55 NUTS3s, and changes suggested for 14 NUTS3s – including possible expansion in distribution in Germany, Hungary and Luxembourg, as well as new presence records Turkey
- Hyalomma lusitanicum: data captured for just 1 NUTS3, but no changes in distribution were identified
- Hyalomma marginatum: data captured for 58 NUTS3s, and changes suggested for 27 NUTS3s - including many introduced records in France, Luxembourg, Sweden and the UK (possibly facilitated by extreme weather events e.g. heat waves) and new presence records in Algeria, Italy, Tunisia and Turkey
- Ixodes persulcatus: data captured for 10 NUTS3s, and changes suggested for 1 NUTS3 – one new area of presence in the south of Finland (which may represent possible expansion of this species)
- Ixodes ricinus: data captured for 221 NUTS3s, and changes suggested for 19 NUTS3s – including new presence records in Algeria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine and introduced records in Finland and Italy
- Ornithodoros erraticus: data captured for just 1 NUTS3, resulting in a change in distribution for this NUTS3 –new presence records for Algeria
- Rhipicephalus sanguineus: data captured for 47 NUTS3s, and changes suggested for 15 NUTS3s – including new presence records for Algeria, Greece, Hungary (possibly expansion locally), Italy, Tunisia and Turkey. A single introduced record was also captured for Ireland