Tick Species

American Dog Tick

Nick Names: Dog tick, Wood tick

Common Names: American Dog tick

Formal Names: Dermacentor variabilis

Description: Looks like Rocky Mountain Wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni - DA), and Gulf Coast Tick (Amblyomma maculatum - AM).  Mouthparts are shorter than AM. 

Repellents: Permethrin clothing treatment kills ticks and deet-based skin repellent helps repel them.

Diseases: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tuleremia and may carry Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis.

Left to Right: female, male

Left to Right: unengorged female, 1/4 engorged, 1/2 engorged and fully engorged

(C) SCS Limited, 2000