A Microfilaria of Exceptional Size from the Ixodid Tick, Ixodes dammini, from Shelter Island, New York

Thirty or more microfilariae 0.70-1.32 mm in length were recovered from the hemocele of an unengorged adult tick, Ixodes dammini, that was collected from vegetation on Shelter Island, New York. Among approximately 500 I. dammini collected from the same area only 1 other was similarly infected. Outstanding features, in addition to size, were absence of a cephalic space and the presence of nuclei in 2 or 3 irregular rows extending to the end of a bluntly rounded tail. The microfilariae apparently were ingested in a blood meal that was taken when the ticks were larvae or nymphs, and had persisted alive without development.