Ixodes scapularis takes three blood meals over a roughly two-year life cycle. Larvae and nymphs feed mainly on white-footed mice and other small mammals and birds; adults prefer white-tailed deer. Mice are the principal Lyme reservoir; deer are not infectious but are required for the adult ticks to mate and reproduce.
Field studies in the northeastern United States routinely find a single white-footed mouse carrying dozens of attached Ixodes scapularis…
A single Ixodes scapularis nymph the size of a poppy seed can deliver Borrelia burgdorferi after roughly 36 to 48 hours of attachment.…
Adult female Ixodes scapularis are about 3 millimeters long with a solid dark scutum behind the head and an orange-red abdomen. Adult…
Ixodid ticks pass through four life stages: egg, larva, nymph, and adult. Larvae, nymphs, and adult females each take one large blood…
White-tailed deer are required for adult Ixodes scapularis to mate and reproduce, but deer are not competent reservoirs of Borrelia…
Ixodes ricinus, the castor bean tick, is the European cousin of Ixodes scapularis and the dominant Lyme vector across Europe from Portugal…