Fig. 3

Illustration of the transmission of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi (s.l.) by ungulate species. The arrows from questing ticks to ungulates show the attachment routes and the arrows from ungulates to engorged ticks show detachment routes. The thickness of the arrows represents the proportion of ticks attaching or detaching, and the size of the boxes represents the proportion of that tick stage, based on data from Table 2. Red ticks represent infected ticks. The engorged females are not divided into infected and uninfected, since we assume that there is no vertical transmission and thus the infection status of an engorged female is irrelevant. The green arrows and green ungulates show the role of the ungulate species in the transmission of either A. phagocytophilum or B. burgdorferi (s.l.), and the orange arrows and orange ungulates show the role of the ungulate species as propagation host. Light-green coloration of ungulate means that the role of this ungulate in the transmission of either A. phagocytophilum or B. burgdorferi (s.l.) is unknown. Silhouettes of ungulates by Sander Vink