Acari Collections

The Acari collections have nearly 800 primary types. The MCZ has the Jacot and Banks types, and most of the DeLeon types. Not only have the collections been used for taxonomic research, but MCZ archival ticks were used in the investigation of Lyme disease (1990, Science, Vol. 249:1420-1423). DNA of the spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi was found in ticks collected in New York in the 1940's, before the disease was recognized in the USA.