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. 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).

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