The 9 Most Common Types of Ticks (with Pictures)

There are hundreds of species of ticks and at least 90 of them can be found in the United States. Luckily, not all of types of ticks transmit Lyme disease. In the USA, only deer ticks and western blacklegged ticks transmit Lyme.

This doesn’t mean you are in the clear if bitten by a different type of tick. Though not nearly as common as Lyme, some ticks can spread other diseases like rocky mountain spotted fever or Anaplasmosis.

Why You Should Learn to Identify Common Ticks

It’s good to be able to identify the ticks commonly found in your region. For starters, you’ll be less likely to freak out about possibly getting Lyme if you know that the species isn’t a carrier. And, if you do have symptoms after being bit by a tick, you’ll be able to narrow down which tick disease you may have based on the species.

Remember, if you can get a tick off within the first 24 hours of it biting, the chances of getting a disease are very slim. But it’s important that you remove the tick properly without squeezing or irritating it (or it might regurgitate its stomach contents into your skin!).

For more, read:

The Most Common Types of Ticks (with Pictures)

1. Deer Tick (Ixodes scapularis)

Also called the blacklegged tick, this is one of the most common types of ticks encountered in the USA. It is also responsible for most cases of Lyme disease and can carry numerous other diseases as well. The females are fairly easy to ID because of their red color, but the males can easily be mistaken for other types of ticks.

Where Found: Entire Eastern half of the USA
Can transmit: Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Borrelia mayonii, Borrelia miyamotoi, Lyme disease, Powassan disease

Pictures:

Top L and R pictures are of a female deer tick. Bottom L picture is a male deer tick and bottom R is an engorged deer tick.

deer tick adult female, adult male and nymph

From L to R: Adult female, adult male and female nymph

2. Western Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes pacificus)

This is the other type of tick which can transmit Lyme disease. They look a lot like deer ticks but these are only found in the Western Coast of the USA whereas deer ticks are found only in the Central and Eastern regions.

Where Found: Pacific Coast, particularly Northern California
Can transmit: Anaplasmosis, Lyme disease

Pictures:

Ixodes pacificus female (above)

Male is above and female is below

3. American Dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)

The dog tick is another very common species of tick in the USA. They don’t transmit Lyme disease though. It’s fairly easy to recognize the females from the light “sheath” around their head. However, it’s easy to mistake male dog ticks for other species. Note the rigid bumps around the outside of the body – they are called “festoons” and are one way to ID tick species.

Where Found: East of Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast
Can transmit: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), Tularemia

Pictures:

Female American dog tick (above)

Male American dog ticks (above). Note the two black lines on their lower back

4. Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma americanum)

The female lone star tick is easy to identify because of the dot on the middle of its back. Males are harder to identify and can be easily confused with brown dog ticks.

Where Found: South, most of Northeast, and lower parts of the Midwest
Can transmit: Ehrichiosis, Heartland virus, Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI), Tularemia

Pictures:

Male lone star tick (above)

Female lone star tick (above), easy to ID from the spot in its back

5. Brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus)

These ticks are found throughout the USA. They are common on dogs but rarely bite humans. Even when they do bite, they rarely transmit disease.

Where Found: Entire USA (and worldwide)
Can transmit: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF)

Pictures:

Female (L) and male (R)

6. Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Dermacentor andersoni)

The Rocky Mountain wood tick can look a lot like dog ticks (they are in the same genus). Dog ticks are darker color whereas Rock Mountain wood ticks have a reddish tint to them.

Where Found: Around the Rocky Mountains, at high elevations
Can transmit: Colorado tick fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), Tularemia, Anaplasmosis, tick paralysis

Pictures:

Female (L) and male (R)

7. Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum)

These types of ticks rarely spread disease. They aren’t very common either but their range has started to spread outside of the Gulf Coast area. It’s easy to mistake the male Gulf Coast tick for a male dog tick, but the patterns are slightly different. A high percentage of these ticks have the Rickettsia parkeri pathogen so risk of infection is high if you get bit.

Where Found: Gulf Coast area, including Florida, the Carolinas, Alabama and Mississippi
Can transmit: Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis

Pictures:

Engorged (L),female (M) and male (R) Gulf Coast ticks

Notice the cool patterns on the back of the male Gulf Coast tick.

8. Pacific Coast tick (Dermacentor occidentalis)

This tick species is almost exclusively found in California and usually doesn’t bite humans (it prefers cattle). However, upwards of 11% of females may carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever bacteria, so caution needs to be taken if you get bit by this tick.

Range: Most of California and parts of Oregon and Arizona
Can transmit: 364D rickettsiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Tularemia

Pictures:

Females (L and M), male (R)

9. Groundhog tick (Ixodes cookei)

Groundhog ticks look almost identifcal to deer ticks. The only way to really tell the difference is to look at the shape of the “shield” on the back. Only a professional would probably be able to tell the difference. Groundhog ticks Morphologically, Ixodes cookei closely resembles the black-legged tick, but the shape of its shield generally enables us to differentiate it from Ixodes scapularis: its shield is lozenge-shaped whereas that of Ixodes scapularis is oval.

Where found: Entire Eastern half of the USA
Can transmit: Powassan disease
Pictures: See photos here

Difference between Larva, Nymph and Adult Ticks

All types of ticks go through the same life cycle: they start as eggs (E) and then go into the larval stage (L). Larvae ticks are sometimesm called “seed ticks” because they look like tiny seeds. They only have 6 legs instead of 8 at this stage. Because they are so small, larvae ticks are very difficult to remove. The next stages are nymph (N) and adult. The picture shows an adult female (F) and an adult male (M).

After hatching from eggs, ticks must feed before moving onto the next stage. The larvae feed before turning into nymphs, the nymphs feed before turning into adults and the adult female feeds before laying eggs.