Blacklegged Tick In Montana

Several species of ticks are native to Montana, and they are a common sight for runners, hikers and campers in the spring and summer months. But for the first time, specialists in Montana have identified a blacklegged tick in the state, a species that can carry and transmit Lyme disease.

Rocky Mountain wood ticks and American dog ticks are commonly seen in Montana, said Marni Rolston, a diagnostician in MSU Extension’s Schutter Diagnostic Lab in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology. Rolston identified the specimen, which was found in eastern Montana. Wood ticks and dog ticks do not transmit Lyme disease, but blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, can.

The specimen sent to the Schutter Lab was found on a hunter’s dog. The hunter, noticing that it looked different than other ticks, packaged it in a vial and sent it to MSU for identification. Rolston collaborated with scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton to make an airtight identification through DNA sequencing.

“This is the first time we’ve seen this species in the state, but we do have othe...