a0d776d19a1fca01a5acf21c3c87e31a

This photograph depicted ventral view of an engorged female "lone star tick" Amblyomma americanum. An Ixodes or "hard" tick, A. americanum is found through the southeast and south-central states, and has been shown to transmit the spirochete, Borrelia lonestari, the pathogen responsible for causing a Lyme disease-like rash known as "Southern tick-associated rash illness" (STARI). Representatives from all three of its life stages aggressively bite people in the southern U.S.
Created: 2006