Explanation of Names
Amblyomma americanum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Range
TX-FL-ME-NE / Mex. to C. Amer. -
Range Map - CDC
This range represents a significant range expansion for this species, which was regarded as an essentially southern species well into the latter half of the 20th century (Good 1972; Cooley and Kohls 1944; Goddard and Varela-Stokes 2009 and references therein). - EOL
Habitat
It is most common in wooded areas, particularly in forests with thick underbrush, and large trees. - EOL
Food
The Lone Star Tick is a three-host species, and is a general feeder in all its active stages (Bishopp and Trembley 1945)
Its primary hosts are diverse wild and domestic mammals, although deer are considered to be definitive hosts (hosts upon which the reproductive stage depends) (Parola et al. 2005).
Life Cycle
Adults parasitize medium and large mammals (including cattle), and the larvae and nymphs feed on a wide variety of small to large mammals and ground-feeding birds (a large number of known hosts are listed in Cooley and Kohls 1944 and Bishopp and Trembley 1945), although availability of large mammalian hosts such as White-tailed Deer is likely essential to maintain large populations (Childs and Paddock 2003). Bishopp and Trembley (1945) counted around 4800 ticks, mainly Lone Star nymphs, on a single ear of a deer. - EOL
Remarks
Ticks
not known to transmit Lyme disease include Lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum), the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), the Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus). -
CDC
Because of its aggressive and mostly non-specific feeding habits and its high population densities, the Lone Star Tick is one of the most annoying and economically important ticks in the United States. - EOL
The Lone Star Tick is known to transmit Ehrlichiosis, a flu-like illness of varying severity.
Print References
Bishopp, F.C., & Trembley H.L. 1945. Distribution and hosts of certain North American ticks. Journal of Parasitology. 31: 1-54.
Childs, J.E., & Paddock C.D. 2003. THE ASCENDANCY OF AMBLYOMMA AMERICANUM AS A VECTOR OF PATHOGENS AFFECTING HUMANS IN THE UNITED STATES. Annual Review of Entomology. 48: 307-337.
Commins, S.P. et al. 2011. The relevance of tick bites to the production of IgE antibodies to the mammalian oligosaccharide galactose-α-1,3-galactose. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 127(5): 1286–1293.
Full PDF
Cooley, R.A., & Kohls G.M. 1944. The Genus Amblyomma (Ixodidae) in the United States. The Journal of Parasitology. 30: 77-111.
Parola, P., Davoust B., & Raoult D. 2005. Tick- and flea-borne rickettsial emerging zoonoses. Veterinary Research. 36: 469-492.
Piesman J, Sinsky RJ. 1988. Ability to Ixodes scapularis, Dermacentor variabilis, and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) to acquire, maintain, and transmit Lyme disease spirochetes (Borrelia burgdorferi). J Med Entomol. 25(5): 336-339.
