Remesar Alonso, SusanaMatute, R.Díaz Fernández, PabloMartínez Calabuig, NéstorPrieto Lago, AlbertoDíaz Cao, José ManuelLópez-Lorenzo, GonzaloFernández Rodríguez, GonzaloLópez Sández, Ceferino ManuelPanadero Fontán, RosarioDíez Baños, PabloMorrondo Pelayo, María PatrocinioGarcía-Dios, David2023-06-232023-06-232023Remesar, S., Matute, R., Díaz, P., Martínez-Calabuig, N., Prieto, A., Díaz-Cao, J.M. et al. (2023) Tick-borne pathogens in ticks from urban and suburban areas of north-western Spain: Importance of Ixodes frontalis harbouring zoonotic pathogens. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 1–12. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/ mve.126480269-283Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10347/30774To identify the questing tick populations in urban and suburban areas from the city of Lugo (NW Spain), ticks were collected monthly by flagging. The presence of Borrelia spp., Rickettsia spp. and Anaplasma phagocytophilum also was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis. Overall, 342 questing ticks were collected; the tick abundance was higher in suburban (95.9%) than in urban areas (4.1%). Ixodes frontalis was the most abundant (86.5%); 88.5% were larvae, 11.1% nymphs and 0.3% adults. All development stages of I. ricinus (7.3%) and adults of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (5.8%) and Dermacentor reticulatus (0.3%) were found. Rickettsia spp. (31.9%) was more prevalent than Borrelia spp. (2.7%); no ticks were positive to A. phagocytophilum. Six Rickettsia species were identified (R. slovaca, R. monacensis, R. massiliae, R. raoultii, R. sibirica subsp. mongolitimonae and R. aeschielmanii); Candidatus Rickettsia rioja and two novel Rickettsia species also were detected. In addition, Borrelia turdi (1.8%) and B. valaisiana (0.9%) were identified in Ixodes ticks. This is the first report of R. slovaca in R. sanguineus s.l. and of R. monacensis, R. raoultii, R. slovaca, R. sibirica subsp. mongolitimonae and Ca. R. rioja in I. frontalis. Since most of the pathogens detected are zoonotic, their presence in these areas may have implications for public healtheng© 2023 The Authors. Medical and Veterinary Entomology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Anaplasma phagocytophilumBorreliaDermacentorIxodesRhipicephalusRickettsiaUrban areasjournal article10.1111/mve.126481365-2915open access