The Asian longhorned tick is a known livestock pest, especially in New Zealand, and can transmit a disease called theileriosis to cattle but not to humans.

[7] The species was not known to be present on the mainland United States until 9 November 2017, when it was first discovered on a sheep farm in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, although it had been intercepted at U.S. ports on import animals and materials at least a dozen times.

Unfed ticks can survive for close to a year, nymphs and adult females the longest, depending on temperature and humidity.

Natural infestations have been found on wild animals like bear, deer, foxes and hares, small mammals like ferrets and rats, and birds.

[7]: 4–5 Human diseases such as Lyme spirochetes, spotted fever group rickettsiae,[15] Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and Anaplasma bovis have been detected in H.