3:00 snapshot #2001: Wednesday

280 days of Urbpandemonium #50

My coworker Jason flagged me down. He had an unhappy expression on his face and a piece of paper in his hand. On the paper was not words, but a female Dermacentor variablis*, what we usually call a dog tick or a wood tick. "Picked this off of me," he said grimly. I got excited about having a specimen to photograph, so much so I almost forgot to say what we always do when this happens, "At least it wasn't a deer tick."


Sure, dog ticks spread Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and tularemia, but when was the last time you heard of someone catching one of those? But I can't think of a single New Englander I know who doesn't have a friend or family member who has experienced Lyme disease, or had it themselves. I almost feel warmly toward Dermacentor ticks, on account of how much loathing their smaller cousins the Ixodes** ticks inspire.

* "Variable skin-pricker."

**Greek ixos(ιξος)- "birdlime" (a sticky substance put on places where birds perched in order to trap them) + -odes (-ωδης)- a variant of -oides(οιδης)- "like, resembling" (only seen as an ending).

3:00 snapshot #2002: Thursday

Creepin' at the mandrill exhibit.