Backpacker Magazine – June 2006

Tick Identification 101

Get to know the ticks that cause Lyme-and those that don't

by: Christie Aschwanden

Tags:
• Health & first aid
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• Health
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• Skills
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Deer tick (Ixodes scapularis)
Transmits agents of Lyme disease and a malarialike parasitic disease called babesiosis. It is typically found from Maine to northern Virginia and west to Wisconsin and Minnesota. The closely related Ixodes pacificus is found on the West Coast.

Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum)
Transmits agents of ehrlichiosis and a Lymelike condition known by the acronym STARI. It gets its name from a conspicuous spot on the female and is found in the Southeast and some coastal locations in the Northeast.

American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)
Transmits agents of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia (but not Lyme). Found from Nova Scotia to the Gulf Coast and as far west as Texas and the Dakotas. The closely related Dermacentor andersoni is found in the Northwest.

Only adults are known to feed on people and their pets; they are larger than the other tick species described here.

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