Tick-borne disease surveillance was conducted from March–October 2014 in two southeastern provinces, including three metropolitan areas, in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Three general habitats were surveyed: Grasses (grasses and herbaceous and crawling vegetation), Forests (pine, larch, deciduous, and mixed), and Forests+Grasses. A total of 40,048 ticks (1,480 adults; 24,201 nymphs; 14,367 larvae) belonging to three genera and six species were collected. Haemaphysalis longicornis (84.25%; 33,741) was the most commonly collected tick, followed by Haemaphysalis flava (14.52%; 5,816), Ixodes nipponensis (1.09%; 436), Amblyomma testudinarium (0.07%; 27), Haemaphysalis phasiana (0.06%; 23), and Ixodes turdus (0.01%; 5). Overall, adult ticks accounted for only 3.70% of all ticks collected, while nymphs and larvae accounted for 60.43% and 35.87%, respectively. The proportion of H. longicornis nymphs was highest beginning in March (99.51%), slowly declined through July (82.01%) and then rapidly declined to a low in October (6.45%). Large increases in the proportion of H. longicornis larvae were observed in August (42.05%), September (84.19%) and October (93.55%) following increased numbers of adults collected in June (4.20%), July (17.99%) and August (9.79%). Haemaphysalis flava adults and nymphs were commonly collected from April–May and October, while larvae were first collected from July, with peak numbers collected in August and low numbers collected during September–October. The proportion of I. nipponensis adults was highest in March (75.34%), declined to a low in July (0%), and then increased in September (60.00%) and October (90.32%). Larvae were collected only in August–September and accounted for 64.29% and 20.00% of all I. nipponensis collected during those months. Similar proportions of males and females of H. flava (51.47% and 48.53%, respectively) were collected from all habitats, while significantly more I. nipponensis males (62.20%) were collected than females (37.80%). Conversely, the proportion of H. longicornis females (80.00%) collected was significantly higher than for males (20.00%). Overall, the mean number of ticks collected/hr of collection for all habitats was 156.06/hr of collection. Similar numbers were collected/hr for Forests (172.61) and Grasses (168.64), while lower numbers were collected/hr for Forests+Grasses (128.12).

The 65th Medical Brigade and Medical Department Activity-Korea, in collaboration with the Migratory Birds Research Center, National Park Research Institute, conducted a migratory bird tick-borne disease surveillance program on Chilbal Island during 2016. Chilbal Island is a small, remote, uninhabited government-protected island in southwestern Jeollanam Province, Republic of Korea (ROK). Ticks were collected from nest soil and litter of the Ancient Murrelet, Synthliboramphus antiquus, using Tullgren funnels. A total of 4 Ixodes ticks (3 male Ixodes uriae and 1 female Ixodes signatus) were collected. The principal hosts of I. uriae are pelagic birds that have a largely circumpolar distribution. Ixodes signatus parasitizes other migratory birds in coastal areas of western North America and eastern Asia. This is the first report of I. uriae from the ROK.