Preferred tick Canada and US Northwest and West: vectors
Dermacentor andersoni (Rocky Mountain wood tick).
The Rocky Mountain wood tick,
Dermacentor andersoni (Stiles), is found in western Canada from southwestern Saskatchewan, across southern Alberta and into British Columbia.
The Rocky Mountain wood tick (
Dermacentor andersoni), a carrier of the rickettsial disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever, is an example of a three-host tick.
The Rocky Mountain wood tick,
Dermacentor andersoni, is the common vector in the Southwestern U.S.
Reactivation of Rickettsia rickettsii in
Dermacentor andersoni ticks: an ultrastructural analysis.
This vast distribution is a result of the ticks that serve as vector and reservoir of the disease: Dermacentor variabilis (commonly known as the American dog tick) in the eastern United States and
Dermacentor andersoni (commonly known as the Rocky Mountain wood tick) in the western United States.
In the eastern United States, the usual vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is the American dog tick, Derma centor variabilis, while in the West the Rocky Mountain wood tick,
Dermacentor andersoni, predominates.