Questing ticks are usually collected by flagging or dragging. Mostly exophilic tick species are caught, such asIxodes ricinus, the most common tick in Central Europe. In the present study, ticks collected from underground environments in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and in the Central German Uplands (Federal States of Hesse, Bavaria, Thuringia, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Northrhine-Westphalia) were investigated. Six tick species were revealed among the 396 analyzed specimens:Ixodes ariadnae,Ixodes canisuga,Ixodes hexagonus,I. ricinus,Ixodes trianguliceps, andDermacentor marginatus. Adults and immatures ofI. hexagonusdominated the findings (57% of all specimens), especially in shelters acting as potential resting places of main hosts.Ixodes canisugaandI. triangulicepswere for the first time recorded in Luxembourg, and one nymph of the bat tickI. ariadnaerepresents only the second report for Germany. Collecting ticks in subterranean environments turned out to be a useful approach to increase knowledge about the occurrence of relatively rare tick species, including those that spend most of their lifetime on their hosts, but detach in such environmental settings.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10493-023-00795-2.