Answer to Case 383

Answer:  Ixodes sp. tick

Thank you for all of the great responses on this case. As Henry, RastaBob, Eagleville, Lee, and Khalid mentioned, this is an adult, female hard tick, identified as an Ixodes species by the characteristic inverted U-shaped anal groove (shown below; arrowhead).

Other features such as the palps and hypostome are used to determine the species.