“The deer tick is what we think is the primary vector of Lyme disease across the whole U.S.,” Merchant says.ĭeer ticks spread Lyme disease by feeding on infected hosts, including mice and deer. “One of the clues that it’s a tick that you’d typically pick up earlier in the season, like early spring or winter,” Merchant says.ĭeer ticks are perhaps the most feared species because they are known to carry the bacteria that can cause Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi and B. You can be bitten by a deer tick any time during any season, but they have unique timing. The CDC notes that they’re widely distributed in the eastern United States, from Maine to Florida, and into parts of Texas, Colorado, and the Dakotas. “There are deer ticks in most parts of the U.S.,” Merchant says. They could be attached to your skin and you don’t notice it because of the small size.” (Think: as small as a poppyseed.) Here, everything you need to know about each species: Deer Ticks What do deer ticks look like?ĭeer ticks, also known as blacklegged ticks, are hard ticks identifiable by their black legs, red-orange body, and black scutum, which looks like a dot on the upper half of its shield.Īnother important feature: “They’re very small, maybe half or two-thirds the size of a normal tick,” Merchant notes. To determine the key differences between deer ticks and wood ticks, we turned to Mike Merchant, Ph.D., a professor and urban entomologist at Texas A&M University’s AgriLife Extension Service. There are several tick species throughout the U.S., but two of the most common are deer ticks (blacklegged ticks) and wood ticks (most commonly American dog ticks), and while they might cover similar territory, they have the potential to carry and transmit different diseases.Īccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported cases of tick-borne illnesses have more than doubled over the past two decades, meaning it’s more important than ever to understand where these tiny bloodsuckers live, the pathogens they carry, and what to do if you’re unlucky enough to find one latched onto you. Temperatures are rising, days are getting longer, and flowers are blooming again.
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