American Levi Tick

Cheboygan Co., Michigan

Otsego Co., Michigan

Cheboygan Co., Michigan

American dog tick, male. Original illustration by Christine Elder.

Mackinac Co., Michigan

Gambrills, Maryland, United States

Camin, Veneto, Italy

Durham, Maine

Phylum: ArthropodaSubphylum: ChelicerataClass: Arachnida (Spinnentiere)Subclass: Acari (Milben)Superorder: ParasitiformesOrder: Ixodida (ticks, Zecken)Family: Ixodidae C. L. Koch, 1844 (hard-bodied ticks, Schildzecken)Genus: Dermacentor (Buntzecken)Dermacentor marginatus SULZER, 1776 (Schafszecke, Garrapata del pantano)more info (German): www.ijon.de/zecken/system.html#zeckeand (German): de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schafzeckeand: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DermacentorGermany, Brandenburg: Kirchmser Dorf (lakeside Mserscher See), 30-40m asl., 25.03.2012IMG_9676

Norwood, Massachusetts

This illustration shows the growth stages of the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis, from eggs to adult insects.Created: 1975

This photograph depicts a dorsal view of a male Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni. This tick specie is a known North American vector of Rickettsia rickettsii, which is the etiologic agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.Rocky Mountain spotted fever, like all rickettsial infections, is classified as a zoonosis. Zoonoses are diseases of animals that can be transmitted to humans. Many zoonotic diseases require a biological vector (e.g., a mosquito, tick, flea, or mite) in order to be transmitted from the animal host to the human host. In the case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ticks are the natural hosts, serving as both reservoirs and vectors of R. rickettsii. Ticks transmit the organism to vertebrates primarily by their bite. Less commonly, infections may occur following exposure to crushed tick tissues, fluids, or tick feces.See PHIL 10869, for a side-by-side comparative view of both a male and female D. andersoni tick.Created: 2008

Under a high magnification of 3862X, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted the recessed base of a singe seta, or hair emanating from the dorsum of an unidentified male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). PHIL 9959 revealed all this tick’s legs, placing it into the Phylum Arthropoda, i.e., from jointed ( Arthro), and legs (poda), as well as the Class Arachnida, for they’ve eight of these legs, unlike insects, which use six appendages to move about. Setae are chitinous exoskeletal adnexae which are sensorial in nature, sensing environmental changes in temperature, movement, i.e., wind, and chemistry, i.e., pheromones.Created: 2006

Under a relatively low magnification of 98X, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) provided a closer view of this male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). PHIL 9959 revealed all this tick’s legs, placing it into the Phylum Arthropoda, i.e., from jointed ( Arthro), and legs (poda), as well as the Class Arachnida, for they’ve eight of these legs, unlike insects, which use six appendages to move about. From proximal to distal location, each leg is comprised of a coxa, trochanter 1, trochanter 2, a femur, patella, tibia, a two-sectioned tarsus, and a two-part pretarsus, i.e., a pulvillus and claw. Here we see the trochantofemoral joints of the arachnid’s left 3rd and 4th legs, and the femoropatellar joints of its left 2nd and 3rd legs.Created: 2006

Under a relatively low magnification of 193X, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) provided a closer view of this male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). PHIL 9959 revealed all this tick’s legs, placing it into the Phylum Arthropoda, i.e., from jointed ( Arthro), and legs (poda), as well as the Class Arachnida, for they’ve eight of these legs, unlike insects, which use six appendages to move about. From proximal to distal location, each leg is comprised of a coxa, trochanter 1, trochanter 2, a femur, patella, tibia, a two-sectioned tarsus, and a two-part pretarsus, i.e., a pulvillus and claw. Here we see the trochantofemoral joint of the arachnid’s left 3rd leg, and the femoropatellar joint of its left 2nd leg.Created: 2006

Under a relatively low magnification of 95X, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) provided a closer view of this male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). PHIL 9959 revealed all this tick’s legs, placing it into the Phylum Arthropoda, i.e., from jointed ( Arthro), and legs (poda), as well as the Class Arachnida, for they’ve eight of these legs, unlike insects, which use six appendages to move about. From proximal to distal location, each leg is comprised of a coxa, trochanter 1, trochanter 2, a femur, patella, tibia, a two-sectioned tarsus, and a two-part pretarsus, i.e., a pulvillus and claw. Here we see the femur, patella, and tibia of arachnid’s left 2nd and 3rd legs.Created: 2006

Under a magnification of 3206X, four times greater than PHIL 9965, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted a dorsal view of an unidentified male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). Note in PHIL 9959 and 9960, that the entire dorsum of this tick’s abdomen is covered by its tough scutum, or shield, categorizing it as a male. In female Ixodid-species ticks, the scutum only partially covers the dorsal abdomen. Revealed in this image is the base of the hypostome, which is one of the tick’s mouthparts that acts to pierce the host skin surface, thereby, anchoring the tick to the host as it obtains its blood meal. See PHIL 9964 for another view of the foliated hypostomal surface, which begins here as small scales.Created: 2006

Under a magnification of 3206X, four times greater than PHIL 9965, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted a dorsal view of an unidentified male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (seen here) (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). Note in PHIL 9959 and 9960, that the entire dorsum of this tick’s abdomen is covered by its tough scutum, or shield, categorizing it as a male. In female Ixodid-species ticks, the scutum only partially covers the dorsal abdomen. Revealed in this image is the base of the hypostome, which is one of the tick’s mouthparts that acts to pierce the host skin surface, thereby, anchoring the tick to the host as it obtains its blood meal. See PHIL 9964 for another view of the foliated hypostomal surface.Created: 2006

Under a magnification of 801X, this scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted a dorsal view of an unidentified male Dermacentor sp. tick found upon a cat in the suburbs of Decatur, Georgia, which measured approximately 3.5mm from its gnathosoma (seen here) (i.e., capitulum), which is where its mouthparts are located, to the distal abdominal margin (PHIL 9961). Note in PHIL 9959 and 9960, that the entire dorsum of this tick’s abdomen is covered by its tough scutum, or shield, categorizing it as a male. In female Ixodid-species ticks, the scutum only partially covers the dorsal abdomen. Seen clearly in this image is the base of the hypostome, which is one of the tick’s mouthparts that acts to pierce the host skin surface, thereby, anchoring the tick to the host as it obtains its blood meal. See PHIL 9964 for another view of the foliated hypostomal surface.Created: 2006