One of the Largest Curated Tick Collections in the World

USNTC (Tick) Collection Image Gallery

 

With over 125,000 accessioned lots, over one million specimens, their associated data, and an extensive library (reprints, monographs, and books), the U.S. National Tick collection is one of the largest curated tick collections in the World, if not the largest. It belongs to the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) and has been housed at Georgia Southern University since 1990. The collection contains specimens from all continents, most of the approximately 860 known species of ticks, and a quarter of the primary tick types.

Ticks (Ixodida) are haematophagous mites (Acari). During their blood meal, ticks can acquire and/or transmit a number of microorganisms, some of which can cause diseases in humans, domestic and wild animals. Because of the impact of ticks on human and veterinary medicine, the USNTC is not only a significant resource of material and information for tick taxonomists but also for public health officials.