This photograph depicts a female ?lone star tick? Amblyomma americanum. An Ixodes or ?hard? tick, A. americanus is found through the southeast and south-central states, and has been shown to transmit the spirochete, Borrelia lonestari, the pathogen responsible for causing a Lyme disease-like rash known as ?Southern tick-associated associated rash illness? (STARI). Representatives from all three of its life stages aggressively bite people in the southern U.S. Research indicates that live spirochetes are observed in only 1-3% of specimens.