
On the Cover
Chitin exoskeleton of a female Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni) collected on Goat Mountain in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. These ticks are vectors for many diseases including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, and tuleremia, and can produce a salivary neurotoxin that causes tick paralysis.
Adam Nock, Jacqueline Leung, Elizabeth Fischer & Ted Hackstadt (Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID)