Pacific Coast Tick (male)

Description:

Male Pacific Coast Tick on a Woolly Sunflower blossom. This species is known only from California, Oregon, and northern Baja California (Mexico).

Habitat:

Mitchell Canyon Road Hiking Trail in Mount Diablo State Park, CA.

Notes:

Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida. Along with mites, they constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites (external parasites), living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. Ticks are vectors of a number of diseases, including Lyme disease, Q fever (rare; more commonly transmitted by infected excreta), Colorado tick fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, African tick bite fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Tick paralysis and tick-borne meningoencephalitis, as well as bovine anaplasmosis. Wikipedia