What are the common ticks of the Northeast?

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Ticks are actually arachnids (the 8-legged class that includes spiders) and are found around the world. These are some of the common ticks in the US:

  • Blacklegged tick/Deer tick (Ixodes scapularis)
  • American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)
  • Lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum)
  • Asian Longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) (first described in 2017 and still rare).

Ticks have four stages in their life cycle – the adults are tiny, but the larvae and nymphs are even smaller. For example, these are the estimated sizes at each stage:

  • Eggs
  • Larvae (0.7 - 0.8 mm)
  • Nymphs (1-2 mm)
  • Adults (~6 mm)

This is a tick trying to get through TheTickSuit™:

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