The multiple micro-organisms, parasites or viruses, associated with ticks represent "influential passengers" that can impact the vertebrate hosts on which the ticks perform their blood meals, but also the ticks themselves. We focused on a group of RNA viruses frequently associated with arthropods, and more recently discovered in ticks, the iflaviruses. Through a scan of transcriptomic assemblies from 27 different tick species, we identified nine complete genomic sequences attributed to the iflavirus family, in Ixodes ricinus and then in four other tick species, representing five novel viral species in total. Our phylogenetic analysis demonstrates the absence of strict coevolution between iflaviruses and ticks, and implies several changes in tick host species during the evolution of these viruses. The remaining unknown is the effect of these viruses on the reproductive success of ticks.

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