1. Parasitic on mice of genus Peromyscus and bites humans; principal vector for Lyme disease in eastern United States (especially New England); northern form was for a time known as Ixodes dammini (deer tick)
   "The black-legged tick population has expanded with climate change";
   - Ixodes scapularis

Derived forms: black-legged ticks

Type of: hard tick, ixodid

Part of: genus Ixodes, Ixodes

Encyclopedia: Black-legged tick