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Knowledge of the tick fauna of continental Southeast Asia is either patchy or, in some cases, for example Cambodia and Myanmar, poor. Nevertheless, 97 species have been recorded from this region, making it one of the most diverse for ticks worldwide. Throughout Southeast Asia, work on tick-borne diseases of stock and companion animals, as well as of humans, is in its infancy, and the medical, veterinary and socio-economic importance of these diseases is largely unknown. Here we review current knowledge of Southeast Asian ticks and tick-borne diseases, with the aim of stimulating further research on this subject.

Since the publication of "An annotated checklist of the ticks of Germany" in 2012, the list now includes two additional ixodid species. Ixodes acuminatus is endemic in several countries bordering Germany. Sufficient specimens have now been found in southwestern Germany to show that this species is also native there. The other species, Ixodes inopinatus, has its main area of distribution in the western Mediterranean, and it is not yet clear whether the two females and one male found in Rhineland-Palatinate were accidental introductions or are part of a viable population. Although it is only two years since our checklist of the ticks of Germany was published (Petney et al. 2012), two species have now been recorded that were not identified previously in this country; one is already known for other Central European countries, while the other is newly described (Estrada-Peña et al. 2014). Ixodes acuminatus Neumann, 1901 There is some debate about whether the eastern Palearctic species Ixodes redikorzevi Olenev, 1927, is a synonym of I. acuminatus. Along with Guglielmone et al. (2014) we consider that this is not the case until a comparison of types has been carried out. However, should the synonymy be confirmed, then the range of this species would be extended to include parts of Eastern Europe, China, the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Small mammals hosted numerous larvae and nymphs of this species over three years of collection so that I. acuminatus is now confirmed as endemic to Germany.

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