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Data from: Deer keds and blacklegged ticks infesting ungulates in the United States: molecular detection of Bartonella spp., Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp., and Borrelia spp.

    Deer keds are blood-feeding flies from which several human and animal pathogens have been detected, including the causative agent of Lyme Disease (Borrelia burgdorferi). Cervids, which are the primary hosts of deer keds, are not natural reservoirs of B. burgdorferi, and it has been suggested that deer keds may acquire bacterial pathogens by co-feeding near ticks that are infected with the bacteria. We tested this hypothesis by using a molecular assay to screen for presence of Anaplasma spp., Bartonella spp., Borrelia spp., and Rickettsia spp. in specimens of European deer keds (n=306) and blacklegged ticks (n=315) collected from 38 individual white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania. There was limited similarity in the bacterial DNA detected between these ectoparasites per host, suggesting that co-feeding may not be a mechanism by which deer keds acquire these bacteria.

    Insect Images: The Source for Entomology Photos

      A joint project of The University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Department of Entomology, Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, Georgia Museum of Natural History, The Entomology Society of America and USDA Identification Technology Program, [Insect Images](https://www.insectimages.org/) image categories include: Insect Orders: Hymenoptera; Coleoptera; Hemiptera; Lepidoptera; Blattodea; Odonata; Dermaptera; Diptera; Orthoptera; Neuroptera; Phthiraptera; Mantodea; Thysanura; Isoptera; Thysanoptera; Phasmatoptera; and Related Organisms.

      ARS Collection of Entomopathogenic Fungal Cultures (ARSEF)

        The Agricultural Research Service Collection of Entomopathogenic Fungal Cultures is the world's largest, most kaleidoscopic, and most comprehensive collection of living cultures of fungi that are pathogenic to or associated with insects, spiders, mites, ticks, and other invertebrates. Some isolates in the collection are not themselves invertebrate pathogens but are critically important for the improvements of taxonomies and systematics for the many diverse groups of fungi represented here. As of July 2016, ARSEF maintains more than 13000 isolates of more than 700 taxa of fungi isolated from 1300 hosts collected at more than 2400 locations on every continent.