Dermacentor andersoni inhabits shrub and grassland between roughly 4,000 and 10,500 feet of elevation in the Rocky Mountain west and adjacent provinces. Adults are active in spring and early summer; outside that window human encounters are rare. The species transmits Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, and the toxin that causes tick paralysis.
Dermacentor variabilis adults have ornate white-and-brown mottling on the scutum and are roughly the size of a watermelon seed when unfed.…
Dermacentor occidentalis is found only along the Pacific coast of California, Oregon, and Washington and inland through California's coast…
Dermacentor occidentalis transmits Rickettsia 364D (now classified as Rickettsia rickettsii subsp. californica), the cause of Pacific…
Winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) outbreaks are tightly coupled to short snow seasons. Late autumns let questing larvae find moose…
Rhipicephalus sanguineus is a competent vector of Rickettsia rickettsii in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where…
Dermacentor albipictus is a one-host tick: larva, nymph, and adult all stay on the same animal for the entire roughly year-long cycle. A…