Howdy bug lovers! Today we're talking about blood stealing ectoparasites and learning all about ticks from University of Kentucky graduate student Anna Pasternak. Anna is working on a large scale tick survey in Kentucky that is helping us to see how populations of ticks may be changing in the state and monitor for the invasive Asian longhorned tick. Anna also tests her ticks for pathogens and is finding that Lyme may be more of an issue in the state than previously thought. Tune in to learn about tick biology, tick borne disease, and how to prevent them from biting you! Anna Pasternak after a successful day of "ticking" in the woodsShow notes The Lone Star Tick in Kentucky: https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef648 Ticks and Disease in Kentucky https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef618 Tick Encounter is also a great resource for learning about ticks and how to identify them https://tickencounter.org/ Black legged deer tick at the 12 o'clock position, clockwise next would be the American dog tick and then Lone-star tick Photo by Jim Kalisch; UNL Entomology DeptQuestions? Comments? Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_PodshowFollow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36Get the show through Apple Podcasts!Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!   We're also on Stitcher! This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0