Extension
Date of this Version
1994
Abstract
Identification and control of ticks common to Nebraska.
Ticks are members of the same phylum (Arthropoda) of the animal kingdom as insects, but are in a different class (Arachnida). The main difference is the body of a tick is composed of only two sections while insect bodies have three sections.
There are over 800 species of ticks, 100 of which are important to man and animals because of economic losses or disease transmission. Fortunately in the United States, only about 12 species are economically important because they transmit disease organisms (viral, bacterial, protozoan, and rickettsial) or cause economic losses to livestock.
In Nebraska only three tick species, Dermacentor andersoni (Rocky Mountain wood tick), Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick), and Rhipicephalus sanquineus (brown dog tick), are found in enough numbers to be considered economically important. Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick) and Dermacentor albipictus (winter tick) are occasionally found in southeastern and western Nebraska, respectively. The "spinose" ear tick, Otobius megnini, also may be found in western Nebraska.
Comments
© 1994, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska on behalf of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension. All rights reserved.