Materials and methods
Study sites and sampling
Feeding ticks were collected from 72 wild animals, in particular 30 fallow deer (Dama dama), 29 red deer (Cervus elaphus), 7 wild boars (Sus scrofa), and 6 roe deer (Capreolus capreolus).
The animals lived in mountain and hilly areas of Tuscany, rich of mixed forests mainly composed by beech, chestnut, fir , oak , Several different bird species live usually in these areas, as well as various large and small .
Only adult (male and female) ticks were collected. Six ticks were removed from each animals and placed into sterile tubes. Samples were transferred to the laboratory and kept frozen at −20 °C.