Dermacentor andersoni, commonly known as the Rocky Mountain wood tick, is a hard tick, or member of the Ixodidae family, with three life stages including larvae, nymph, and finally adult, or, more entomologically, imago. This tick is generally located in the northwest United States and southwest Canada along the Rocky Mountains. This tick is generally a vector for Colorado tick fever, but can also be a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.[1] During the larval and nymphal stages, the tick does not feed on humans, but during the adult stage, it will. Prevention of infections associated with these ticks is based on control of exposure to the vector, including wearing proper clothing when in woods/wet areas, and checking oneself thoroughly after returning home. Adult female ticks can feed for 5 to 15 days, thus removing a tick if present is very important.[2] Follow general tick removal tips.
Dermacentor andersoni is a three-host tick with larval, nymphal, and adult life stages. During each life stage, the tick takes a single blood meal from a mammalian host. The duration of the lifecycle varies between 1 and 3 years and is influenced by factors such as temperature, humidity, and host availability. From the beginning of May through June, ticks' eggs are deposited on moist vegetation after the engorged female ticks drop off their hosts. The female lays about 2500–4000 eggs over 10–33 days.[3] Larval ticks hatch in early summer and begin questing for small mammalian hosts, seeking the stimuli of carbon dioxide, light, temperature, and humidity. A larva may cling to a passing host with the first pair of legs, climb upwards, and then attach with its gnathostome to the neck or shoulder region. They feed about 2–6 days. After becoming engorged, larvae drop off the host, and molt into nymphs. Nymphs remain dormant for extended periods of time unless stimulated by presence of a host. Nymph feeding behavior is like that of larvae. Nymphs and larvae do not feed on humans, but adults do. If they find a host and attach, the adult females feed continuously throughout that time, around 5–15 days. Males, though, feed for a shorter period and copulate with several, partially fed females that are still on the host. Females drop off the host when fully engorged and seek an area to oviposit. Both sexes die shortly after reproducing.[2]
Morphologyedit
Female (left) and male (right) Dermacentor andersoni
Dermacentor andersoni hard ticks are generally brown or reddish brown in color. Females have a distinct dorsal silver-gray ornamentation that turns more gray when the tick feeds, while males are spotted gray and white with no distinctive shield marking.[1] Their bodies are flat and pear-shaped, ranging from 2.0 to 5.3 mm in length, and have 11 festoons on their lower dorsal portion. This species is sexually dimorphic; females are generally larger and can increase their size by nearly three times when fully engorged. This species is also polymorphic, with much physical variation between individuals. Features that distinguish this species from other ticks include the number and size of goblets, which are used for respiration on its spiracular plates; D. andersoni typically has 100-200 goblets on average.[1] This is only observable with a light microscope.
Disease transmissionedit
These ticks are generally a vector for Colorado tick fever and can possibly be a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia.[3] However, the related species, D. variabilis is more likely to be a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever than D. andersoni.[citation needed] As stated above, D. andersoni is generally located in the NW USA/ SW Canada whereas D. variabilis is generally located in the eastern USA. The border separating these two species could be considered to be the Missouri River. Thus, if one were to find a Dermacentor tick on oneself when west of the Missouri River, the risk for Colorado tick fever would be higher than for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The tick can become infected with a disease by feeding on a small mammal during its larval or nymphal stage and can generally be a vector in its nymphal or adult stage.[4]
^ abcLam, W. (2009). "Species Details Dermacentor andersoni". University of Alberta Museums. E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
^ ab. University of California, Davis. Archived from the original on June 3, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
^Eisen, L (2007). "Climate change and tick-borne diseases: A research field in need of long-term empirical field studies". International Journal of Medical Microbiology. 298: 12–18. doi:10.1016/j.ijmm.2007.10.004.
January 01, 1970
dermacentor, andersoni, commonly, known, rocky, mountain, wood, tick, hard, tick, member, ixodidae, family, with, three, life, stages, including, larvae, nymph, finally, adult, more, entomologically, imago, this, tick, generally, located, northwest, united, st. Dermacentor andersoni commonly known as the Rocky Mountain wood tick is a hard tick or member of the Ixodidae family with three life stages including larvae nymph and finally adult or more entomologically imago This tick is generally located in the northwest United States and southwest Canada along the Rocky Mountains This tick is generally a vector for Colorado tick fever but can also be a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia 1 During the larval and nymphal stages the tick does not feed on humans but during the adult stage it will Prevention of infections associated with these ticks is based on control of exposure to the vector including wearing proper clothing when in woods wet areas and checking oneself thoroughly after returning home Adult female ticks can feed for 5 to 15 days thus removing a tick if present is very important 2 Follow general tick removal tips Dermacentor andersoni Scientific classification Domain Eukaryota Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Subphylum Chelicerata Class Arachnida Order Ixodida Family Ixodidae Genus Dermacentor Species D andersoni Binomial name Dermacentor andersoniStiles 1908 Contents 1 Life cycle 2 Morphology 3 Disease transmission 4 See also 5 ReferencesLife cycle editDermacentor andersoni is a three host tick with larval nymphal and adult life stages During each life stage the tick takes a single blood meal from a mammalian host The duration of the lifecycle varies between 1 and 3 years and is influenced by factors such as temperature humidity and host availability From the beginning of May through June ticks eggs are deposited on moist vegetation after the engorged female ticks drop off their hosts The female lays about 2500 4000 eggs over 10 33 days 3 Larval ticks hatch in early summer and begin questing for small mammalian hosts seeking the stimuli of carbon dioxide light temperature and humidity A larva may cling to a passing host with the first pair of legs climb upwards and then attach with its gnathostome to the neck or shoulder region They feed about 2 6 days After becoming engorged larvae drop off the host and molt into nymphs Nymphs remain dormant for extended periods of time unless stimulated by presence of a host Nymph feeding behavior is like that of larvae Nymphs and larvae do not feed on humans but adults do If they find a host and attach the adult females feed continuously throughout that time around 5 15 days Males though feed for a shorter period and copulate with several partially fed females that are still on the host Females drop off the host when fully engorged and seek an area to oviposit Both sexes die shortly after reproducing 2 Morphology edit nbsp Female left and male right Dermacentor andersoni Dermacentor andersoni hard ticks are generally brown or reddish brown in color Females have a distinct dorsal silver gray ornamentation that turns more gray when the tick feeds while males are spotted gray and white with no distinctive shield marking 1 Their bodies are flat and pear shaped ranging from 2 0 to 5 3 mm in length and have 11 festoons on their lower dorsal portion This species is sexually dimorphic females are generally larger and can increase their size by nearly three times when fully engorged This species is also polymorphic with much physical variation between individuals Features that distinguish this species from other ticks include the number and size of goblets which are used for respiration on its spiracular plates D andersoni typically has 100 200 goblets on average 1 This is only observable with a light microscope Disease transmission editThese ticks are generally a vector for Colorado tick fever and can possibly be a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia 3 However the related species D variabilis is more likely to be a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever than D andersoni citation needed As stated above D andersoni is generally located in the NW USA SW Canada whereas D variabilis is generally located in the eastern USA The border separating these two species could be considered to be the Missouri River Thus if one were to find a Dermacentor tick on oneself when west of the Missouri River the risk for Colorado tick fever would be higher than for Rocky Mountain spotted fever The tick can become infected with a disease by feeding on a small mammal during its larval or nymphal stage and can generally be a vector in its nymphal or adult stage 4 See also editTicks of domestic animalsReferences edit a b c Lam W 2009 Species Details Dermacentor andersoni University of Alberta Museums E H Strickland Entomological Museum Retrieved November 8 2020 a b Dermacentor andersoni University of California Davis Archived from the original on June 3 2013 Retrieved April 19 2017 a b Munyarubuga J 2012 Dermacentor andersoni Animal Diversity Web Retrieved April 19 2017 Eisen L 2007 Climate change and tick borne diseases A research field in need of long term empirical field studies International Journal of Medical Microbiology 298 12 18 doi 10 1016 j ijmm 2007 10 004 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dermacentor andersoni amp oldid 1224199575, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
