United States
£ GBP
Despite their insignificant form and size, ticks are one of the most readily recognized groups of arthropods in Canada. They are repugnant to most people not only because of their blood-feeding habits, but some species may cause paralysis or serve as reservoirs and vectors of a remarkable variety of pathogens, including viruses, rickettsiae, bacteria, protozoans and spirochaetes. in Canada, these pathogens include the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, relapsing fever, tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, Colorado tick fever, Powassan encephalitis, and perhaps others, some of which afflict wild and domesticated animals as well as humans, leading to highly pervasive medico-veterinary and economic issues. An important step is correct identification of the offending entity, which with ticks may be any of the active immature or adult forms.
This publication is an identification and information guide to all known active instars of the nine genera and forty species of ticks that occur in Canada. Identification keys and other information about ticks in Canada were last presented by John D. Gregson in a 1956 monograph which gradually became outdated. Previous keys did not account for the larva, which may be just as important as subsequent instars. Also, the distributions of ticks have changed markedly, in view of climatic changes and other factors.
Handbook topics include: general information on tick life history, external structures and terms used for identifying ticks, methods of collecting, rearing and preserving ticks, medical, veterinary and wildlife importance of ticks in Canada, illustrated keys to larvae, nymphs, females and males of genera and species, and for each species, diagnoses, summary life histories, host preferences, general distribution, disease vector potential, and maps of Canadian distribution. Host/tick and tick/host indices are also provided. This handbook will be equally useful in Alaska and the northern tier of contiguous states of the United States of America.
