Videos: blacklegged tick egg-laying and larval hatch

Ventral view of oviposition (timelapse)

Larval hatch (timelapse)

Lyme disease agent detected in blacklegged tick populations in eastern Tennessee.

Comparison of blacklegged tick surveys done in eastern Tennessee in 2006 (A) versus 2017 (B) ... Lyme disease agent newly detected in 4 counties!

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/24/9/18-0343_article

Gulf Coast tick vs. American dog tick

Two adult males: a Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum) on the left; an American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) on the right.  Both collected in eastern Tennessee, July 2018.

Nymphal longhorned ticks, at first glance, look quite similar to nymphal lone stars.

Nymphal life-stage of the exotic, invasive longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) on the left, compared to a nymphal lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) on the right. Similar on first glance, but on second glance their mouthparts are distinctively different!

These guys were collected in June 2018 from vegetation in southwestern Virginia.

It's the time of year to start checking for Lone Star tick larvae

It's that time of year ... out in the woods, Lone Star tick egg-masses are starting to hatch into larvae.  Lint rollers are your friend!

Know your nymphs!

Three nymphs of blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, three nymphs of lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, and eight nymphs of the exotic longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis.

Source: https://fonseca-lab.com/category/research-projects/ticks-tick-borne-diseases/

Popular press article on factors underlying geographic variation in Lyme disease incidence

https://www.wiscontext.org/confounding-geography-lyme-disease-us

Larval engorgement photo-series

A time series of larval blacklegged tick engorgement.