The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that alpha-gal syndrome - a tick-borne illness that causes a red meat allergy - is an emerging public health concern. The Lone Star tick is thought to be primarily responsible for an allergy to red meat, but other ticks can't be ruled out. Knowing which species you have in or around your home or business is key when trying to keep your family and pets safe and prevent an infestation.A Lone Star tick (middle) flanked by a deer tick (left) and a dog tick. Photo of a dog tick waiting on a blade of grass The Importance of Pest IdentificationĪs with any pest, tick identification can help you better understand the nature of the problem and develop a plan of action. As you can tell from this top-view pest image, other than a slightly pitted appearance, the brown dog tick lacks the more distinct body patterns found in other species. Adult females range in size from an eighth to a fourth of an inch in length, but their size and shape changes dramatically after feeding.īoth males and females are a similar reddish-brown color. Male brown dog ticks take only small amounts of blood from a host, but females take much more. Females are brown to reddish-orange and have a black shield-like plate, or scutum, behind their heads. Adult males tend to be dark brown with no reddish coloration. In this deer tick image, you can see why some people call the pests black-legged ticks. A louse has six legs while an adult tick has eight. For pest identification, you’ll need to take a close look at the specimen’s limbs. Both pests are small and appear similar at first glance. Since they are hard to see, it’s easy for people to mistake a tick for a head louse. Their coloring can also change to tan, gray, or dark brown. Once they’ve taken a blood meal, adult female ticks can increase in size to as much as a half-inch in length. In this side-view pest image, you can see that ticks are small and flat before feeding. Male deer ticks, on the other hand, are slightly smaller in size.Ī photo of a deer tick crawling on a person’s skin Females grow up to about an eighth of an inch in length. Two deer ticks pictured on a penny for size referenceĪs seen from this deer tick photo, these pests are tiny. The pests are far too little to see on blades of grass, and their reddish-orange or dark brown coloration helps them blend in with their surroundings. Females deer ticks have a dark red abdomen and black head.ĭue to their small size and coloration, ticks are hard to spot outdoors. While they may seem similar from a distance, each species is unique in how they look. In addition to learning more about the appearance and characteristics of the species, these pictures can help you identify a tick if you see one in your home or business, or worse, on you, your family, or your pets. We’ve put together an image gallery of the most common ticks in the region. Size and appearance vary by species, and most ticks have distinct characteristics that help with identification. In general, these pests have teardrop-shaped bodies and females are typically larger than males. While there are hundreds of different types of ticks in the U.S., only a few live in the Mid-Atlantic region.
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