Fig 1. Sampling areas.

Geographical areas used for sampling were located in the north of China, and were divided mainly on the basis of different ecological and environmental characteristics. Sampling area 1 was a mainly forested habitat, sampling area 2 was a grassland habitat, and sampling area 3 was the semi-desertification steppe / Gobi Desert. The tick sampling collection period was from May 2015 until June 2019. ①—Sampling area 1 covering two leagues: Hulunbuir and Hinggan. ②—Sampling area 2 including Hohhot, Ulanqab and Xilin Gol, Tongliao and Chifeng. ③—Sampling area 3 including Baotou, Wuhai, Ordos, Bayan Nur, and Alxa. Map source: National Earth System Science Data Center (http://www.geodata.cn/data/datadetails.html?dataguid=223718677040067&docid=4590).