Since pulling all those ticks off the dog yesterday I’ve been looking at some of them more closely under the microscope.

Before this week, I’ve never looked at the details of their mouthparts, or of their claws.

You might not find this appealing, but I often find that the more closely I look at the things that initially disgust me the more interesting (and even delightful) they can become.

Not always, but often enough to make me keep looking with interest.

The first image is an update of an image I posted yesterday. As I learn more, I often go back to old nature journal entries and add to them.

The second image is a response to a question that formed in my mind as I made the first image: what are their feet like?

The third image came about when I flipped one tick over and began to look at its underside, and then started looking up answers as the tick’s anatomy raised more questions for me!

This might be an argument against allowing me to have my own microscopes. But I am having fun learning, and I am marveling at the details of these tiny creatures.

A detailed hand-drawn illustration and notes about the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis, including observations about its legs, chelicerae, and the presence of ticks after a run on the prairie.A detailed anatomical sketch of an American dog tick's claw is shown with annotations and notes describing its structure, including mentions of hinged claws, joints, and textured legs to aid in gripping animal fur.A detailed watercolor and ink sketch of an American Dog Tick's capitulum from a ventral view, accompanied by handwritten notes explaining its anatomical features and behavior.