Your Best Source For Learning About And Protecting Yourself from Ticks

Rocky Mountain Wood Tick

Nick Names:  

Common Names: Rocky Mountain Wood tick

Formal Names: Dermacentor andersoni

Description: Looks like American Dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis – DV), and Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum – AM).  Mouthparts are shorter than AM.  It is a more robust, husky tick with a rounded thicker body than both DV and AM.

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

Diseases: Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, Tularemia, Colorado Tick Fever and major cause of Tick Paralysis.

Left to Right: female, male

As the tick engorges the shield remains consistent in size and color although it tilts forward to a more vertical position.

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

 All photographs on this website are copyright and subject to restrictions