A dataset of distribution and diversity of ticks in China

Abstract

While tick-borne zoonoses, such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis, present an increasing global concern, knowledge of their vectors’ distribution remains limited, especially for China. In this paper, we present the first comprehensive dataset of known tick species and their distributions in China, derived from peer-reviewed literature published between 1960 and 2017. We searched for journal articles, conference papers and degree thesis published in both English and Chinese, extracted geographic information associated with tick occurrence, and applied quality-control procedures to remove duplicates and ensure accuracy. The dataset contains 5731 records of geo-referenced occurrences for 123 tick species distributed over 1141 locations distinguished at four levels of scale i.e., provincial, prefectural, county, and township and finer. The most frequently reported tick species include Haemaphysalis longicornis , Dermacentor silvarum , Ixodes persulcatus , Haemaphysalis conicinna , Rhipicephalus microplus , and Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato. The geographical dataset provides an improved map of where ticks inhabit China and can be used for a variety of spatial analyses of ticks and the risk of zoonoses they transmit.

Vectors of disease at the northern distribution limit of the genus Dermacentor in Eurasia: D. reticulatus and D. silvarum

“…Here, the southernmost distribution limit of D. silvarum is defined by a location at 108.8 • E∕33.8 • N . However, some historical remote locations from the data compilation of Zhang et al (2019) were not considered in this study as they occur in climates not typical for D. silvarum and have not been confirmed, as yet. Locations of D. silvarum have also been documented in the north-west of China, in the province of Xinjiang, bordering the distribution area of D. reticulatus in Kazakhstan.…”

“…Concerning historical data, Yamaguti et al (1971) stated in their book Ticks of Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands that they have not attempted to determine the species of the genus Dermacentor, since there is very little information. The data collection of Zhang et al (2019) going back to 1954 lists 29 D. reticulatus locations in the Chinese province Shaanxi, which appear questionable. The region Fig.…”

“…Knowledge on the geographical distribution of D. reticulatus and D. silvarum in Eurasia is based on the existing datasets of Rubel et al (2016) with 1207 D. reticulatus locations, and 181 D. silvarum locations compiled by Zhang et al (2019). Two locations were removed from the dataset published by Rubel et al (2016).…”

“…These tick locations were classified into four different levels according to their geographic scales and administrative levels (1=provincial, 2=prefectural, 3=county, 4=township or finer). A total of 41 locations was excluded, which reduces the number of D. silvarum locations taken from Zhang et al (2019) down to 180. In order to supplement these already existing two data sets, a comprehensive literature research was carried out.…”

“…Maps showing the complete detailed geographical distribution of D. reticulatus and D. silvarum are missing. In order to compile such maps, a list of georeferenced tick locations is required that was previously collected only for D. reticulatus in Europe (Estrada-Peña et al 2013;Rubel et al 2016) and D. silvarum in China (Zhang et al 2019). Large areas of eastern Europe and Asia (Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia) have not or only sparsely been covered by georeferenced data.…”