Ticks in Pennsylvania

Comparison of three stages of a tick's life: nymph, adult male, and adult female. The nymph is small with a dark body, the adult male is larger with a dark body, and the adult female is the largest with an orange and black body.

Deer/Blacklegged tick
Ixodes scapularis

Associated with: Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Bartonellosis, Borrelia Miyamotoi, Mycoplasma, and Powassan Virus*

Comparison of three ticks labeled as Nymph, Adult Male, and Adult Female, showing size and color differences.

American Dog tick
Dermacentor variabilis

Associated with: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis and Tularemia*

Three ticks labeled Nymph, Adult Male, and Adult Female showing size differences and physical features.

Lone Star tick
Amblyomma americanum

Associated with: Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, STARI - Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness, Heartland Virus, Tularemia; tick bite may cause Alpha Gal Syndrome (red meat allergy)*

Diagram showing the life stages and genders of a groundhog tick. From left to right: larva, nymph, adult male, and adult female.

Groundhog tick
Ixodes cookei

Associated with: Powassan Virus*

Comparison of tick life stages including larva, nymph, adult male, and adult female, each labeled with stage names.

Gulf Coast tick
Amblyomma maculatum

Associated with: Rickettsia parkeri (causes a form of spotted fever in humans)

Close-up of a brown tick with eight legs on a plain white background.

Asian Long Horned tick
Haemaphysalis longicornis

Associated with: Lyme disease, Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasmosis**

**Early 2023 ticks collected in PA were positive for causative agents of Lyme and Anaplasmosis. Research is ongoing regarding capacity to acquire/transmit.* (Ticklab.org)

Longhorn ticks are found in 27 counties in Pennsylvania — almost the entire southern half of Pennsylvania. (“An invasive tick is swarming southeastern Pa. Here’s what you need to know,” WHYY/PBS-NPR)

Download The PA Lyme Tick Identification Card
Download The PA Lyme Tick Identification Card

*A single tick bite can give you more than one infection.
Tick photos courtesy of Tick Encounter

Ticks are found in all 67 Counties of Pennsylvania!

When Ticks are Active

Peak season for ticks is spring through summer/early fall, but ticks are active every season … anytime the temperature is above freezing. Ticks do not die from frost or snow.

SPRING (March & April) - adult ticks
SUMMER (May - September) - nymph ticks (the size of a poppy seed or grain of sand)
FALL & WINTER (September - December) - adult ticks

A collage of four images showing trees in different seasons: winter with snow-covered trees, spring with white blossoms, summer with green leaves, and fall with yellow leaves.

How Ticks Track Us

  • Ticks will wait around for long periods of time before attacking for their next meal.

  • Direct physical contact (brushing up against where they are) is needed for a tick to get on you or a pet. They do not jump, fly or drop from trees.

  • Ticks typically crawl up to the top of grass blades, tall weeds, and bushes, where they quest reaching out with their legs, waiting for you or an animal to walk past. When you walk by, they grab onto you. They are usually found at heights of 8-12 inches above the ground.

  • Lone Star ticks are more aggressive and will actually stalk and follow you for several feet.

Close-up of a tick on a green grass blade.

Where Ticks Live

  • Meadows, fields with tall grass

  • Gardens with ground cover that shades/retains moisture

  • Ornamental plantings

  • Thick brush

  • Wood’s edge - where yard borders wooded areas

  • Forest edges

  • Leaf piles

  • Areas around bird feeders

  • Anywhere shaded with high humidity

  • Also: stone walls, wood piles, tree stumps and fallen logs, outside storage sheds

Pile of dry fallen leaves and twigs on green grass
A stone wall with fallen autumn leaves resting on top, next to a tree trunk with tan bark, surrounded by yellow, orange, and green foliage.
A dirt pathway runs through a grassy field with tall grass on both sides, lined by green trees under a partly cloudy sky.

Found a tick in your yard?
Pulled a tick off a family member or a pet?

TICK IDENTIFICATION:

Our prevention partner, Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania, maintains an extensive tick identification guide if a tick you found does not match one of the types shown above.

TICK TESTING:

Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania also conducts tick testing.

A small insect, possibly a tick, on a white synthetic fiber inside a clear plastic bag.
Logo for Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania with red and black text and a stylized tick icon.

Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania is a university-affiliated lab based in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania that is dedicated to providing fast, highly rated, laboratory-quality tick testing to people in high-risk areas for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases nationwide.

They offer qPCR-based tick testing that is 99.9% accurate and can detect the presence of 18 pathogens that cause diseases such as Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichiosis, Tularemia, B. miyamotoi, Southern Tick-Associated Rash illness, and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever.