It’s been eight years since the Asian longhorned tick was first discovered in Arkansas and a team of researchers has learned that the blood-sucking arachnid has spread to at least 10 counties throughout the state. Kelly Loftin, extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is part of a team including fellow researchers Emily McDermott, Elizabeth Smith and Jeremy Powell that has been tracking the spread of the Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) and two genotypes — genetic variants of a given organism — of the associated pathogen, Theileria orientalis, in cattle across Arkansas for several years. The study is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant. The Asian longhorned tick was first confirmed in the United States in 2017. As of September 2025, it has been confirmed in 23 states, mostly in the eastern portion of the country but as far west as Oklahoma and Kansas, according to ...