It’s a MUST READ! This is a “tour-de-force” led by Andrea Egizi – in the end there are 25 co-authors on the publication and a great set of representative populations from across the Asian longhorned tick’s native and exotic ranges were examined at the barcoding locus in the cytochrome oxidase 1.

Bottom line: (1) bisexual and parthenogenetic ALTs split a while back; (2) US pops all bear the parthenogenetic CO1 signature; (3) so far, only 3 CO1 haplotypes have been detected, which are clustered across the NE US; (4) the most likely origin of US ALT is China. Road trip!

Here’s a link to the story on the Rutgers site.

Photo by Jim Occi @ CVB