I spotted 2 deer ticks on my left leg.
Pulled from my head
Male. Males have suspenders
? American Dog Tick (Dermacentor sp. - cf. variabilis), Skylawn Memorial Park, San Mateo Co., CA - April 2010. Thanks to P. Jennings, B. Mathison and Bug Guide for comments on ID. Collection of the tick and examination under a microscope would be recommended for a definitive identification to species.
Tick is the common name for the small arachnids in superfamily Ixodoidea that, along with other mites, constitute the Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites (external parasites), living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Ticks are vectors of a number of diseases, including Lyme disease, Q fever, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and Tick-borne meningoencephalitis, as well as anaplasmosis in cattle and canine jaundice.
