IPM Pest Alert – Asian Longhorned Tick

North Central Integrated Pest Management Center (IPM) has issued a new pest alert focusing on the Asian longhorned tick (ALT), which includes details about the tick’s life cycle, identification, and management options. Females can reproduce without mating with a male, causing a threat to livestock due to large-scale infestations on one animal leading to stress, blood loss and death. According to studies, ALT may spread disease such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other tick-borne illnesses, as they feed on multiple hosts throughout their lives. In it’s native East Asia, ALT can transmit Rickettsia japonica, which causes Japanese spotted fever, and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus, among others.

ALT is invasive in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. ALT was found in New Jersey in 2017, and as of February 2021, it is found in 15 states in the U.S.

The Public Tick IPM Working Group produced this pest alert with support from the IPM Institute and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Crop Protection and Pest Management Program through the North Central IPM Center

Click here for IPM Pest Alert – Asian Longhorned Tick

Click here for North Central IPM Newsletter Article

Click here for LDA website information on the Asian Longhorned tick