dog tick

[BugEZ]

My wife called me at work. She found a tick on her foot. After she stopped screaming, she checked the internet and used the directions there to remove it. Happily it was not mangled, though it may have lost it's hearing. She bagged it and put it in the freezer. When I got home from work I glued it to a toothpick with some nail polish. Then photographed it.

Turns out it was a dog tick. Rather common. Unlikely to cause disease in humans. We have smaller ticks in the woods (this came from the lawn) near us that carry serious pathogens, so it was worth checking

The mouth bits are interesting. There are some "shark teeth" in there I think... Not sure if the white stuff is part of the tick or of my wife...

Mouth part photo: Pentax K01 mirrorless camera, 200 mm telephoto as tube lens, Oly 10X .32 NA lens. 52 images. Pmax processing. Cropped

Whole critter photos: Pentax K01 and 29mm UKA lens on extension. DMAP on dorsal, PMAX on ventral. Ventral cropped.

[rjlittlefield]

Interesting story, nice images!

For the most part, the white stuff is probably an adhesive that the tick makes to glue itself in place. Could be some bits of your wife stuck on the outside of it.

--Rik