Oliver Meckes and Nicole Ottawa
Zecke in Haut, 2007

Scanning electron photomicrograph; magnification approximately x50 at capture; post-capture digital colorization

Eye of Science, Reutlingen, Germany

This colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a tick, Ixodes sp., shows its mouthparts buried in the skin of a human host while feeding on blood. The legs are protruding from the body on either side of the insect where the tick is embedded in the skin. A shield-like plate on the back of the body, (colored brown on the left), characterizes this genus of hard-bodied ticks. Ticks are vectors for a number of diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, including Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), tick typhus, and Colorado tick fever.

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