Dermacentor andersoni

Rocky Mountain wood tick
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Subclass:	Acari
Superorder:	Parasitiformes
Order:	Ixodida
Family:	Ixodidae
Genus:	Dermacentor
Species:	D. andersoni
Binomial name
Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, 1908

Dermacentor andersoni, commonly known as the Rocky Mountain wood tick, is a species of tick.^[1] It can cause tick paralysis. This tick is well known as a vector of the Rocky Mountain spotted fever rickettsia in the northwestern U.S. and Canada, the Colorado tick fever virus, and the bacteria which causes tularemia (hunter's disease).^[2]

Diagnostic features:

• The larva only has three pairs of legs.
• The nymph has four pairs.
• A single pair of spiracular openings (stigmata) are seen close to the coxae (leg bases or segments) of the fourth pair of legs (except in larvae).
• A terminal capitulum (mouthparts) is visible from above in all hatched stages.
• A large sclerite called the scutum is present dorsally behind the capitulum. The scutum almost entirely covers the back of the male, but only partly covers the back of the female.
• Eyes, if present, are on the scutum.
• Sexual dimorphism in size and colour is frequent. The female is often larger.
• The posterior margin of opisthosoma is usually subdivided into sclerites called festoons.
• The pedipalps are rigid along the chelicerae, and are not leg-like.

See also

• Ticks of domestic animals

References

1. Dergousoff SJ, Gajadhar AJ, Chilton NB (March 2009). "Prevalence of Rickettsia species in Canadian populations of Dermacentor andersoni and D. variabilis". Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75 (6): 1786–9. doi:10.1128/AEM.02554-08. PMC 2655481. PMID 19151178.
2. http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Robert_B_Kimsey/Kimsey_Research/California_Ticks/