Songbird-transported tick Ixodes minor (Ixodida: Ixodidae) discovered in Canada

Ticks are carried into Canada by millions of birds during spring migration, and some of these blood-sucking ectoparasites harbour tick-associated pathogens. During a pan-Canadian study of ticks on avian hosts, we identified an extralimital tick, Ixodes minor Neumann (Ixodida: Ixodidae) collected from a Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas (Linnaeus) (Passeriformes: Parulidae) at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although the I. minor larva was not tested for any tick-borne pathogens, this tick species is considered a competent enzootic vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt, and Brenner sensu lato (s.l.). Epidemiologically, diverse B. burgdorferi s.l. genospecies have been detected in, or isolated from I. minor, and this tick species potentially represents a public health risk not only in the southeastern United States of America, where I. minor is indigenous, but also in Canada. This tick collection is the northernmost report of I. minor in North America, and constitutes the first documentation of this tick species in Canada.