# First confirmed identification of a male Asian longhorned tick (Ixodida: Ixodidae) in the United States

## TL;DR

Scientists found the first male Asian longhorned tick in the US, which could change understanding of its invasive spread.

## Contribution

The first confirmed male Asian longhorned tick specimen in the US is documented, challenging prior assumptions of parthenogenesis.

## Key findings

- A male Asian longhorned tick was found in Ohio in May 2023.
- The specimen displayed gynandromorphism in several body parts.

## Abstract

Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann, the Asian longhorned tick (ALT), has quickly established widespread invasive populations in the United States since its first at-large detection in 2017. Until recently, no male ALT has been verifiably collected in the United States, despite examinations of tens of thousands of individual specimens, thus affirming that the US incursion was founded by ticks from a parthenogenetic source population of ALT. This report documents the first validated male ALT specimen in the United States, collected in May 2023 on a cattle farm in Gallia County, Ohio. This specimen shows morphological signs of gynandromorphism in its palps, hypostome, genitalia, and anal aperture.