Arthropods - Ectoparasites

[Jetoar]

Sorry Blaine for my mistake about a eyes  . You could fix it with a few of painture if you wish. And yes. I have made a male  .

[bmathison1972]

Sorry Blaine for my mistake about a eyes  . You could fix it with a few of painture if you wish. And yes. I have made a male  .

No worries. I love the figure as is and happy to have this species, an Australian hard tick is unique indeed

[bmathison1972]

Review of a complete (well, believed to be complete) set of Ticks by a [currently] unknown manufacturer. Both stemturtle and I have inquiries to the dealer (AliExpress) on who made them, and will update if and when we find out [personally, I suspect Wing Mau but the set currently is not in their online catalogue]. Interestingly, I had received the female A. americanum from Beatrice and then Chad alerted me to the whole set on AliExpress, from which immediately purchased!

There are six figures in the set, a male and engorged female for each of three North American species. They are all solid PVC/plastic and are of remarkable detail! The females are roughly 50 mm long and the males 25-30 mm, minus appendages.

EDIT 2/20/2017: 1) the manufacturer remains a mystery and 2) the set is not complete as there is apparently also a Rhipicephalus sanguineus pair.

Here is an overview of the set:

screen shot windows

Here is a shot of the front of the females:

screen shot windows

A. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum.
Native to much of the eastern and south-central United States, this species is responsible for the transmission of agents of tularemia, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and human monocytic ehrlichiosis. These figures show the hallmark morphologic features, especially the characteristic single white macula on the dorsal shield of the adult female that give the tick its common name of 'lone star'.

Dorsal:

screen shot windows

Ventral:

screen shot windows

B. American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis.
This species occurs throughout much of the eastern North America, the South, and along the Pacific Coast, and is responsible for the transmission of agents of tularemia and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. It has also been implicated in tick paralysis. Again, super detail although the color of the female's dorsal shield is a bit stylized.

Dorsal:

screen shot windows

Ventral:

screen shot windows

C. The black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis.
Native to eastern United States and adjacent Canada, this species is responsible for the transmission of the agents of Lyme disease, babesiosis, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and Powassan virus – lineage 2. Another detailed figure, even down to the lack of festoons and the presence of an inverted, u-shaped anal groove!

Dorsal:

screen shot windows

Ventral:

screen shot windows

[bmathison1972]

I have edited the first post in this thread, with photos uploaded to Postimage. I essentially just did cut-and-pastes from the 'Bug of the Day' posts.

[widukind]

Beautieful

[bmathison1972]

I have recaptured these images for Postimage.

[bmathison1972]

I have recaptured these images for Postimage.