title: Geographical distribution of Dermacentor marginatus and Dermacentor reticulatus in Europe.
abstract: The goal of this paper is to present up-to-date maps depicting the geographical distribution of Dermacentor species in Europe based on georeferenced sampling sites. Therefore, a dataset was compiled, resulting in 1286 D. marginatus (Sulzer, 1776) and 1209 D. reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794) locations. Special emphasis is given to the region of the European Alps depicting a presumable climate barrier of the mountains and to overlaps in the distribution of both species as well as on the situation in eastern European countries. For the latter newly described Dermacentor findings comprise 59 locations in Romania and 62 locations in Ukraine. The geographical distributions of both species in Europe range from Portugal to Ukraine (and continue to the east of Kazakhstan). Although it is well known that D. marginatus is adapted to a warmer and drier climate at more southern latitudes and D. reticulatus to a moderately moist climate at more northern latitudes, the distribution limits of both species were not well known. Here, the northern and southern distribution limits for both species in Europe, as determined from the georeferenced database, were specified for D. marginatus by the belt of 33-51° N latitude and for D. reticulatus by the belt of 41-57° N latitude. Thus, overlapping species distributions were found between 41° N and 51° N.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: franz.rubel@vetmeduni.ac.at.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rubel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brugger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Hygiene and Veterinary Public Health, University of Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pfeffer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chitimia-Dobler
authors.affiliation: Department of Acarology, Institute of Zoology, NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Yuliya M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Didyk
authors.affiliation: tick-radar GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leverenz
authors.affiliation: tick-radar GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dautel
authors.affiliation: tick-radar GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kahl
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002980:Climate; D003870:Dermacentor / Q000145:classification* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005060:Europe; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Dermacentor-associated pathogens; Distribution map; Georeferenced locations; Ixodid ticks; Tick-borne diseases