{ "model": { "rank": 2778, "code": "thing-q10304508", "model_id": "vr.tr.ixodida", "name": "Ixodida", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a tick within Ixodida, assess its developmental and feeding state, and select justified identification, handling or exposure-response actions.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Physical world and living systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "PHY", "domain": "PHY.LIV", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q10304508/", "tier": 2, "score": 97, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 97, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q10304508", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10304508", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-07T11:43:06Z", "providers": [ "Codex", "Grok" ], "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "usd": 0.01263644, "turns": 1, "seconds": 148.3, "error": null }, "codex": { "seconds": 84, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.3\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a07bab-18b3-7cd1-839b-c2ebc5fcc1a8\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: Ixodida\nRegistry id: vr.tr.ixodida\nPlane / domain: PHY / PHY.LIV\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (none)\n\nA Vercy m" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q10304508", "registryId": "vr.tr.ixodida", "name": "Ixodida", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "PHY.LIV" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q10304508/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.ixodida", "name": "Ixodida", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a tick within Ixodida, assess its developmental and feeding state, and select justified identification, handling or exposure-response actions.", "definition": "Ixodida is the order of obligately blood-feeding parasitiform mites (ticks) diagnosed by a toothed, eversible hypostome used to anchor in vertebrate skin and by Haller's organ on tarsus I, and currently comprising the extant families Ixodidae, Argasidae and Nuttalliellidae.", "scope_statement": "This model owns the tick-specific identity, observable condition, life-stage transitions, host associations and handling constraints of organisms registered under vr.tr.ixodida in PHY / PHY.LIV, including observations that cannot yet resolve a species.", "in_scope": [ "Identification as Ixodida and evidence supporting finer taxonomic assignments.", "Tick morphology interpreted against life stage, damage and engorgement.", "Developmental, feeding, reproductive and viability states.", "Observed attachment to hosts and occurrence in off-host microhabitats.", "Specimen-level pathogen evidence and its limits.", "Tick collection, containment, preservation and referral decisions." ], "out_of_scope": [ "Diagnosis and treatment of disease in a bitten human or animal.", "The independent biology and classification of pathogens detected in ticks.", "Complete models of host organisms and their immune responses.", "Area-wide infestation estimates and surveillance programme design.", "Pesticide product specifications, dosing and regulatory authorisations." ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Against other mites, seek the combination of a toothed hypostome and Haller's organ on the first pair of legs using suitable magnification; document whether these structures are actually visible. [Ectoparasite identification guidance](https://www.rcpath.org/static/2a85a3a1-abdc-4a44-926b66b13c0432ea/UK-SMI-B-61i21-Investigation-of-specimens-for-ectoparasites-October-2018.pdf)", "Against insects such as fleas or lice, examine body organisation and appendages together: tick larvae have six legs, whereas nymphs and adults have eight, so six legs alone cannot exclude a tick. [CDC tick identification](https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/ticks/index.html)", "Against the narrower category Ixodidae, assess the dorsal scutum and mouthpart position: Ixodida must accommodate soft ticks as well as hard ticks, with characters interpreted for the observed stage. [CDC tick identification](https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/ticks/index.html)", "Against a scab, seed or detached skin fragment, establish organised arthropod anatomy through visible jointed appendages and mouthparts; apparent attachment or movement alone is insufficient." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Taxonomic determination", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Ixodida unresolved; family, genus or species with identification authority, method and confidence", "why_it_matters": "Controls which identification characters and biological expectations may be applied." }, { "name": "Developmental stage", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "egg; larva; nymph with instar if established; adult; unresolved", "why_it_matters": "Prevents stage-dependent anatomy and behaviour from being misread as identification errors." }, { "name": "Sex determination", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "female; male; unresolved; not determinable at recorded stage", "why_it_matters": "Supports interpretation of adult morphology and reproductive potential without forcing assignments." }, { "name": "Diagnostic morphology", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Observed states of scutum, capitulum, hypostome, first-leg sensory structures and key-specific characters; not visible; damaged", "why_it_matters": "Makes identification reviewable and distinguishes absent structures from unobserved ones." }, { "name": "Body dimensions", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Length and width in mm with measurement landmarks, stage and feeding state", "why_it_matters": "Supports comparison without treating engorgement-related size changes as species differences." }, { "name": "Feeding condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "apparently unfed; feeding; partially engorged; fully engorged; indeterminate", "why_it_matters": "Informs state assessment while keeping visual feeding estimates distinct from elapsed attachment time." }, { "name": "Host association", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Host identity and body site; crawling on host; attached; detached from host; association uncertain", "why_it_matters": "Separates a host encounter from demonstrated attachment or feeding." }, { "name": "Attachment interval", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Observed or bounded start and end times; duration in hours; estimation method; unknown", "why_it_matters": "Preserves exposure evidence without converting an uncertain encounter into an exact duration." }, { "name": "Off-host occurrence", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Location, date, substrate or microhabitat, collection method and possible transport history", "why_it_matters": "Supports ecological interpretation without assuming the collection location is the place of origin." }, { "name": "Viability and integrity", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "alive; dead; uncertain; intact; damaged; preserved, with observed evidence", "why_it_matters": "Determines containment needs and which identification or laboratory methods remain feasible." }, { "name": "Pathogen examination", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Linked assay, target, specimen or pool, result, date and laboratory interpretation; not tested", "why_it_matters": "Keeps laboratory detection separate from demonstrated transmission or disease in a host." } ], "affordances": [ "Compare documented anatomy with an applicable tick identification key and retain the narrowest supported determination.", "Record repeated observations of attachment, feeding, detachment and development without filling gaps with assumed transitions.", "Route an attached-tick observation to an appropriate human or veterinary removal and exposure-response protocol.", "Collect, contain, label and preserve a specimen according to its intended identification or testing use.", "Request expert identification or justified laboratory examination when existing evidence cannot support a decision.", "Link specimen findings to host-exposure and surveillance records while preserving their different evidential limits." ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "sonenshine-roe-2013", "title": "Biology of Ticks, Volumes 1-2 (2nd edition)", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Order-level diagnosis (hypostome, Haller's organ), family split, life cycles, feeding duration, medical and veterinary roles, and measurements of size and reproduction" }, { "id": "guglielmone-2014", "title": "The Hard Ticks of the World (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae)", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "Circumscription of Ixodidae within Ixodida, prostriate versus metastriate division, valid names, and geographic faunas" }, { "id": "horak-camicas-keirans-2002", "title": "The Argasidae, Ixodidae and Nuttalliellidae (Acari: Ixodida): a world list of valid tick names", "url": "", "what_it_supports": "The three-family classification of extant Ixodida and the authoritative list of valid tick names used in acarology" }, { "id": "ncbi-taxonomy-ixodida", "title": "NCBI Taxonomy Browser: Ixodida (txid6939)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=6939", "what_it_supports": "The NCBI taxonomic identifier and placement of Ixodida among parasitiform mites", "url_status": "live" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "tick-identity", "name": "Tick identity", "description": "Establish whether the observed organism is a tick and how precisely it can be identified.", "rationale": "Misidentification or confusion between Ixodida and Ixodidae changes which biological and exposure assumptions are justified.", "layers": [ { "id": "ixodida-recognition", "name": "Ixodida recognition", "description": "Assess anatomical evidence for membership in the registered group.", "findings": [ { "id": "tick-character-evidence", "name": "Tick character evidence", "description": "Record visible diagnostic structures, competing identifications and limits imposed by image quality, stage or damage.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which observed structures support Ixodida rather than another mite, an insect or non-animal material?", "kind": "definition", "id": "tick-character-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "Which diagnostic structures were examined but unresolved, and which were not examined?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "tick-character-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "taxonomic-resolution", "name": "Taxonomic resolution", "description": "Constrain family, genus and species assignments to the evidence available.", "findings": [ { "id": "supported-determination", "name": "Supported determination", "description": "Retain the identification method, authority, alternative determinations and the applicability of the key to this stage and locality.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is the narrowest taxon supported by the observed characters or molecular evidence?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "supported-determination-q01" }, { "text": "Which key, reference sequence or expert determination supports that assignment, and does it cover this specimen?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "supported-determination-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "development-and-condition", "name": "Development and condition", "description": "Represent stage, viability and transitions without imposing one species' life history on all ticks.", "rationale": "Tick anatomy and feasible next actions depend on development, feeding history and specimen condition.", "layers": [ { "id": "stage-and-integrity", "name": "Stage and integrity", "description": "Interpret the specimen's current anatomy and condition.", "findings": [ { "id": "stage-aware-assessment", "name": "Stage-aware assessment", "description": "Assess developmental stage, adult sex where determinable, viability and damage as separate observations.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which anatomical observations establish the stage and, where applicable, adult sex?", "kind": "definition", "id": "stage-aware-assessment-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence establishes viability, and what damage or preservation limits further assessment?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "stage-aware-assessment-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "developmental-transitions", "name": "Developmental transitions", "description": "Track observed moulting, maturation and reproductive events.", "findings": [ { "id": "observed-life-history", "name": "Observed life history", "description": "Separate witnessed transitions from taxon-based expectations; tick life cycles include egg, larval, nymphal and adult stages. [CDC tick lifecycles](https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/tick-lifecycles.html)", "questions": [ { "text": "Which moults, feeding episodes or egg-laying events were directly observed, and when?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "observed-life-history-q01" }, { "text": "What taxon-specific evidence supports the expected next transition or number of remaining instars?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "observed-life-history-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "host-contact-and-feeding", "name": "Host contact and feeding", "description": "Describe the tick's relationship to a host and the evidence for a blood meal.", "rationale": "Finding a tick on a host, observing attachment and estimating feeding progress support different decisions.", "layers": [ { "id": "attachment-evidence", "name": "Attachment evidence", "description": "Establish the host contact event and its temporal bounds.", "findings": [ { "id": "documented-host-contact", "name": "Documented host contact", "description": "Record host identity, body site, attachment evidence and observed or uncertain timing.", "questions": [ { "text": "Was the tick crawling, attached by its mouthparts or already detached, and on which host and body site?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "documented-host-contact-q01" }, { "text": "Which observations bound attachment duration, and which parts of that interval remain unknown?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "documented-host-contact-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "blood-meal-state", "name": "Blood-meal state", "description": "Interpret engorgement and feeding history using stage-appropriate evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "feeding-progress", "name": "Feeding progress", "description": "Record feeding observations and engorgement measures without treating body size as an exact clock.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which observations or measurements support the recorded engorgement state?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "feeding-progress-q01" }, { "text": "Is any proposed feeding-duration estimate validated for this taxon, stage and measurement method?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "feeding-progress-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "off-host-context", "name": "Off-host context", "description": "Represent where and how a tick was encountered outside a demonstrated feeding event.", "rationale": "Microhabitat, collection method and transport history affect interpretation of host-seeking activity and local occurrence.", "layers": [ { "id": "encounter-microhabitat", "name": "Encounter microhabitat", "description": "Locate the organism in its immediate environmental and sampling context.", "findings": [ { "id": "collection-context", "name": "Collection context", "description": "Record substrate, shelter or vegetation, environmental observations and the method that produced the encounter.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where and when was the tick found, on what substrate, and by which collection method?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "collection-context-q01" }, { "text": "Was host-seeking, sheltering or another behaviour observed directly, or inferred from the collection setting?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "collection-context-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "origin-and-persistence", "name": "Origin and persistence", "description": "Distinguish the collection location from supported conclusions about origin or establishment.", "findings": [ { "id": "local-occurrence-interpretation", "name": "Local occurrence interpretation", "description": "Link possible transport on hosts or materials and corroborating encounters without making one specimen prove a resident population.", "questions": [ { "text": "Could recent host travel or movement of bedding, equipment or other materials explain this occurrence?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "local-occurrence-interpretation-q01" }, { "text": "What additional evidence would be needed to infer local reproduction or persistent infestation?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "local-occurrence-interpretation-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "examination-and-response", "name": "Examination and response", "description": "Connect identification and exposure evidence to appropriate specimen handling and referral.", "rationale": "The agent must preserve useful evidence and distinguish tick findings from conclusions about a host's health.", "layers": [ { "id": "pathogen-evidence", "name": "Pathogen evidence", "description": "Represent assay findings and the limits of their interpretation.", "findings": [ { "id": "detection-versus-transmission", "name": "Detection versus transmission", "description": "Separate pathogen detection from vector competence and demonstrated host transmission. [CDC-hosted review of vector competence](https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/86404)", "questions": [ { "text": "Was the result obtained from this individual tick or a pool, using which assay and target?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "detection-versus-transmission-q01" }, { "text": "What does the evidence establish about detection, and what remains unestablished about viable infection or transmission?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "detection-versus-transmission-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "specimen-and-exposure-routing", "name": "Specimen and exposure routing", "description": "Select the next action according to attachment status, evidence needs and available expertise.", "findings": [ { "id": "justified-next-action", "name": "Justified next action", "description": "Record the intended examination, applicable handling protocol, containment requirements and any host-care referral.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which collection, containment or preservation method is compatible with the intended morphological or laboratory examination?", "kind": "action", "id": "justified-next-action-q01" }, { "text": "Does the observed attachment or host exposure require routing to a human or veterinary response protocol, and which applicable protocol governs that action?", "kind": "action", "id": "justified-next-action-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Ixodidae (hard ticks): scutate ticks with a dorsal shield and a capitulum visible from above; typically one long blood meal per stage", "Argasidae (soft ticks): leathery, non-scutate ticks with a ventral capitulum; typically brief, repeated feeds and nidicolous habits", "Nuttalliellidae: the monotypic living family Nuttalliella namaqua, morphologically intermediate between hard and soft ticks", "Prostriata: hard ticks with an anal groove anterior to the anus (Ixodes and close allies)", "Metastriata: remaining hard-tick genera, with the anal groove posterior to the anus or indistinct", "One-host ticks: all parasitic stages completed on a single individual (e.g. cattle ticks in Rhipicephalus (Boophilus))", "Two- and three-host ticks: one or more stages drop off the host to moult before seeking a new host (the majority of ixodids)", "Fossil Ixodida: Cretaceous amber lineages such as Deinocrotonidae and Khimairidae, treated as distinct families in palaeoacarology" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "NCBI Taxonomy", "value_or_pattern": "6939", "note": "txid for order Ixodida" }, { "scheme": "Wikidata", "value_or_pattern": "Q4883548", "note": "Wikidata item for Ixodida" }, { "scheme": "ICZN scientific name", "value_or_pattern": "Ixodida Leach, 1815", "note": "Zoological order-group name; some catalogues instead rank the same taxa as superfamily Ixodoidea" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) - governs formation and priority of tick scientific names", "WOAH (World Organisation for Animal Health) Terrestrial Animal Health Code and Manual - international standards for several tick-borne animal diseases (theileriosis, babesiosis, heartwater, equine piroplasmosis) and for tick control/surveillance", "WHO guidance on tick-borne human diseases (tick-borne encephalitis, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Lyme borreliosis) and vector surveillance", "USDA APHIS cattle-fever-tick eradication and quarantine rules for Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and R. annulatus in the United States", "EU Animal Health Law (Regulation (EU) 2016/429) and listed-disease rules that treat several tick-borne infections as notifiable" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Encountered as ectoparasites of mammals, birds, reptiles and (rarely) amphibians in vegetation, burrows, nests, livestock yards and human dwellings", "Primary medical and veterinary vectors of Lyme borreliosis, rickettsioses, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, theileriosis, tick-borne encephalitis, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, and (via Ornithodoros) African swine fever virus", "Collected in public-health and livestock programmes by flagging/dragging vegetation, CO2 traps, examination of hosts, and abattoir or quarantine inspection", "Used as experimental animals in acaricide efficacy tests, pathogen-transmission studies, and anti-tick vaccine research (e.g. Bm86 against cattle tick)", "Identified in clinical practice from attached specimens to assign regional disease risk after a bite" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-measurements", "name": "Typical measurements", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "quantity": "Unfed adult body length", "typical_range": "2-7", "unit": "mm" }, { "quantity": "Fully engorged female body length", "typical_range": "8-20", "unit": "mm" }, { "quantity": "Ixodid feeding duration per stage", "typical_range": "2-14", "unit": "days" }, { "quantity": "Argasid feeding duration per meal", "typical_range": "15-120", "unit": "minutes" }, { "quantity": "Eggs laid by a typical ixodid female (single gonotrophic cycle)", "typical_range": "1000-8000", "unit": "eggs" }, { "quantity": "Active legs (larva vs nymph/adult)", "typical_range": "6 (larva), 8 (nymph and adult)", "unit": "count" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-measurements-q01", "text": "Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Transmission of bacterial, protozoal and viral pathogens during the blood meal", "Tick paralysis from salivary neurotoxins (notably some Ixodes and Dermacentor species)", "Alpha-gal syndrome (delayed red-meat allergy) after bites of certain hard ticks", "Anaemia, hide damage and production loss from heavy livestock infestation", "Secondary bacterial infection or granuloma at the attachment site, including risk from mouthpart retention if the tick is removed improperly", "Acaricide resistance, especially in one-host cattle ticks, causing control failure", "Misidentification of species or life stage, which assigns the wrong endemic-disease risk to a bite or a locality", "Geographic range expansion with trade and climate (e.g. Hyalomma in Europe; cattle-fever tick reinfestation)" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Europe treats Ixodes ricinus as the default woodland tick and TBEV/Lyme as the main human-health frame; North America splits blacklegged tick (I. scapularis, often still called 'deer tick') from western I. pacificus and from American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)", "Australia emphasises the paralysis tick Ixodes holocyclus and biosecurity around cattle tick; southern Africa emphasises Amblyomma (heartwater), Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (East Coast fever) and the Ornithodoros moubata complex", "Arid and nest/burrow habitats give argasid (soft) ticks a much larger practical role than in temperate forests, including tick-borne relapsing fever and pig-housing Ornithodoros", "Catalogues disagree on rank and names: many acarologists use order Ixodida; some databases list the same taxa as superfamily Ixodoidea. Argasid generic limits (Ornithodoros versus Carios and related names) remain contested", "Vernacular names differ (English tick, French tique, German Zecke, Spanish garrapata, Turkish kene) and informal names such as 'seed tick' (larva) or 'wood tick' are region-specific and not taxonomic" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "name": "Mesostigmatic haematophagous mites (e.g. Dermanyssus, Ornithonyssus)", "difference": "Lack a toothed hypostome and Haller's organ; generally much smaller; spiracles in a different position (mesostigmata versus tick stigmatal plates)" }, { "name": "Trombiculid chiggers", "difference": "Only the six-legged larva is parasitic; they feed via a stylostome rather than an inserted toothed hypostome and lack Haller's organ" }, { "name": "Bed bugs (Cimex)", "difference": "Insects with six legs in all stages, no hypostome or scutum, and a piercing-sucking beak; they do not remain attached for days" }, { "name": "Sucking lice", "difference": "Insects with tarsal claws adapted to hair, no Haller's organ, and a true insect head; highly host-specific and permanently ectoparasitic" }, { "name": "Spiders", "difference": "Free-living arachnids with a constricted waist (except some forms), fang-like chelicerae rather than a toothed hypostome, and no blood-feeding ectoparasitic life cycle" }, { "name": "Hard tick versus soft tick (within Ixodida)", "difference": "Hard ticks show a dorsal scutum and a capitulum visible from above; soft ticks have a leathery, often mammillated integument and a capitulum hidden ventrally in the nymph and adult" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of Ixodida this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which current taxonomic authority should govern Ixodida membership, including Nuttalliellidae, and how should conflicting classifications be retained?", "Which identification keys adequately cover immature, damaged and engorged ticks across the intended geographic coverage?", "Which stage- and taxon-specific exceptions to feeding, nymphal development and reproduction require explicit representation?", "For which taxa and stages are engorgement-based attachment estimates validated, and how should their uncertainty be expressed?", "Which jurisdictional and laboratory protocols should govern attached-tick response, specimen preservation and pathogen-testing interpretation?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 28 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organism", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a Ixodida, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a tick within Ixodida, assess its developmental and feeding state, and select justified identification, handling or exposure-response actions.", "characteristics": { "substance": "living", "origin": "natural", "agency": "autonomous", "mobility": "self-moving" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 97 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a Ixodida, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a living thing", "physicalCharacter": [ "Moves under its own power or of its own accord.", "Acts on its own behalf.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Recognised by diagnostic characters, and those differ by life stage - the young of many kinds are mistaken for other kinds entirely. A sighting is settled by characters, a photograph and a place, not by a name alone." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 97 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one Ixodida from another, and a Ixodida from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a Ixodida sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a Ixodida from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "form-and-composition", "name": "Form, composition and condition", "description": "What a Ixodida is made of, what shape and size it takes, and what state it is in.", "rationale": "A physical thing can be measured, and a model that cannot record its measurements cannot support any decision that depends on them.", "layers": [ { "id": "form-and-dimensions", "name": "Form and dimensions", "description": "Shape, size, mass and the ranges these take across examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions", "name": "Measurable dimensions and their units", "description": "The quantities worth recording and the units they are recorded in.", "questions": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the dimensions of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the dimensions of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the dimensions of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "material-and-composition", "name": "Material and composition", "description": "Anatomy, parts and life stage.", "findings": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials", "name": "Parts and life stages", "description": "The parts of a Ixodida and the stages it passes through.", "questions": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the composition of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the composition of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the composition of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-integrity", "name": "Condition and integrity", "description": "Wear, damage, health and the difference between working and broken.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition, damage and health", "description": "How the condition of a Ixodida is judged and by whom.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the condition of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the condition of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the condition of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "place-and-movement", "name": "Place and movement", "description": "Where a Ixodida is, how it got there and where it may go (self-moving).", "rationale": "A thing that can move needs its position recorded with a time, or every later claim about it is about a place it has left.", "layers": [ { "id": "location-and-placement", "name": "Location and placement", "description": "Position, containment and the reference frame the position is given in.", "findings": [ { "id": "position-and-frame", "name": "Position, container and reference frame", "description": "Where a Ixodida is, and what that position is measured against.", "questions": [ { "id": "position-and-frame-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the location of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the location of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the location of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "movement-and-transfer", "name": "Movement and transfer", "description": "How a Ixodida moves on its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "movement-events", "name": "Movement events and constraints", "description": "What counts as a movement, what records it and what limits it.", "questions": [ { "id": "movement-events-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the movement of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the movement of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the movement of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a Ixodida passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a Ixodida between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a Ixodida, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a Ixodida is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "taxonomic-placement", "name": "Taxonomic placement and identification", "description": "What Ixodida is called scientifically, by whose authority, and how a specimen is recognised.", "rationale": "Names change with revisions while the organism does not, so a name without its authority and date cannot be reconciled later.", "layers": [ { "id": "accepted-name", "name": "Accepted name and synonymy", "description": "The current binomial, its author and date, and the names it replaced.", "findings": [ { "id": "name-and-authority", "name": "Accepted name, authority and synonyms", "description": "What to record so a later revision can be applied without losing the old data.", "questions": [ { "id": "name-and-authority-q01", "text": "What is the accepted scientific name of Ixodida, with its author and year, and which synonyms does it absorb?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "name-and-authority-q02", "text": "Which taxonomic authority is being followed, and what would a competing authority say?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "field-identification", "name": "Field identification", "description": "The characters that separate Ixodida from what it is confused with.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters", "name": "Diagnostic characters and confusable kinds", "description": "Features that settle an identification, and those that only suggest it.", "questions": [ { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q01", "text": "Which observable characters distinguish Ixodida from its closest look-alikes, and at which life stage are they visible?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "diagnostic-characters-q02", "text": "What evidence is enough to record an identification as confirmed rather than provisional?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-cycle-and-condition", "name": "Life stages, condition and behaviour", "description": "What Ixodida does over its life and how its state is judged.", "rationale": "Stage and condition change what may be done - handled, treated, harvested, left alone - and both are observations with a time.", "layers": [ { "id": "stages-and-reproduction", "name": "Stages and reproduction", "description": "Development from origin to death, including forms that look like different animals.", "findings": [ { "id": "life-stages", "name": "Life stages and their marks", "description": "The stages worth recording and what tells them apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "life-stages-q01", "text": "What stages does Ixodida pass through, and what observable change marks each transition?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "life-stages-q02", "text": "Which stages are so unlike the adult that they are mistaken for another kind?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "health-and-condition", "name": "Health and condition", "description": "How condition is assessed and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition assessment", "description": "Signs of health, injury and stress, and who is competent to judge them.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "How is the condition of Ixodida judged, on what scale, and by whom?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "What condition obliges an agent to act, and what act is permitted to whom?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "range-and-status", "name": "Habitat, range and conservation status", "description": "Where Ixodida lives and how threatened it is.", "rationale": "Range and status govern what is lawful, and both are assessments with an assessor and a year rather than facts of nature.", "layers": [ { "id": "habitat-and-range", "name": "Habitat and range", "description": "Native range, introductions and the habitat it needs.", "findings": [ { "id": "range-record", "name": "Range, introductions and habitat", "description": "What to record about where it is found and how it got there.", "questions": [ { "id": "range-record-q01", "text": "What is the native range of Ixodida, where has it been introduced, and what habitat does it require?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "range-record-q02", "text": "What distinguishes a native record from an introduced or vagrant one?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "protection-status", "name": "Protection and legal status", "description": "Conservation assessments and the rules that follow from them.", "findings": [ { "id": "status-and-rules", "name": "Conservation status and legal consequence", "description": "The assessment, its date, and what it forbids or requires where.", "questions": [ { "id": "status-and-rules-q01", "text": "What conservation status does Ixodida hold, under which assessment and year?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "status-and-rules-q02", "text": "What does that status forbid or require of an agent, and in which jurisdiction?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a Ixodida came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a Ixodida and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a Ixodida is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a Ixodida, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a Ixodida, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a Ixodida is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 8, "layers": 17, "findings": 19, "questions": 51 } } } }