Tick collected from Sonoma county, California. Seen here is an Ixodes pacificus , the Western black-legged tick, which vectors the agent of Lyme disease. But fear not, we know this tick isn’t infected because it’s a larvae and the pathogen is not passed from adult ticks to their offspring. The larval stage is the first of 3 tick life stages and the only life stage where ticks have 6 legs instead of 8. Fun fact – ticks are technically arachnids, not insects! #Bio60