Ticks (Ixodida) from the collection of the Natural History Department, Museum of Upper Silesia in Bytom, Poland - A contribution to knowledge on tick fauna and the first record of Hyalomma marginatum presence in Poland.

Abstract

There is no doubt that museum collections provide a wide variety of information on ticks. The tick collection at the Natural History Department of the Museum of Upper Silesia in Bytom consists only of 37 specimens as the department is focused mainly on building collections of insects and birds. However, this does not mean that such collection cannot contribute to our knowledge about these arthropods. The most valuable results of studies on the museum's tick collection concerned Polish fauna. There are specimens of I. ricinus dating back as far as 1930-1948, which are the first known records of the presence of this tick in the Upper Silesia. Two specimens collected in copula in 1941 might be the earliest record of the mating behaviour of this species in Poland. The most important result was the detection of 2 cases of H. marginatum presence in Poland, which by far are the oldest documented cases of its presence in this country.