Featured Insect

The Winter tick, also known as the Moose Tick, is apart of the order Ixidida, the family Ixodidae, the genus Dermacentor, and the species albipictus. Its binomial name is Dermancentor albipictus (2). The genus Dermacentor is also known as hard ticks, or ticks that have a hard outer behind their mouth and when they haven’t fed, look flat. This species of tick is sexually dimorphic, with females being larger than males.

Their life cycle lasts roughly a year and has three stages. They first start out in a larvae stage, then progress to nymphs, and finally develop into adults (2). The life cycle starts and ends during late winter. During this time, the adults of the previous generation mate, the females lay eggs, then they die. The eggs stay dormant until late summer, where they then hatch and find a host. After about 10 days, during which they find their host, the larvae transform into the nymphal stage. This stage lasts until about halfway until February. Once this point in time is reached, they enter the adult stage of life where they mate, lay eggs and die. Then the cycle begins again for the next generation (2). 

These ticks have a large range across the US but are most commonly found in areas that moose inhabit as well (3). Unlike other species of hard ticks, the winter tick only has one host species for its whole life cycle (3). This host is found after they hatch as larvae and before they develop into nymphs. The larvae will gather into large clumps in bushes and trees, waiting for an animal to brush past them (1). This propensity to hunt in packs makes then a huge problem for juvenile and pregnant host species, like the moose (1). They become an infestation on their host, the sheer volume of their numbers often causing stillbirths or just killing the mother before the calf is born due to anemia (3). Not pregnant adult moose typically can handle the stress of these infestations, but juvenile moose cannot, they too can die from anemia from these infestations.