Trip to the Great Dismal Swamp

The Great Dismal Swamp… what a horrible name for such a beautiful place. Today’s insect collecting escapades went well. Collected approximately 10 specimens in the short time we were there. Later we discovered that A--- had outdone himself in his collecting efforts.

Upon arrival home I noticed that A--- had several small black specks covering his feet and ankles. Further investigation proved that he had, indeed, collected more than his fair share.

I have yet to identify the hundreds of black specks covering his feet. I thought at first that they might be Chiggers. So, while A--- panicked over his unwanted tagalongs, I decided to do some detective work and see what I could come up with. This effort came to no avail.

I hope someone might be able to help me in my identification process. I believe these creatures too large to be chiggers, although I could be wrong. They can be seen with the naked eye, and under a magnifying glass they appear tick-like. My confusion lies in the fact that there were so many, at least 200 covering his feet and ankles. I haven’t heard of anyone finding this many ticks on them at one time. We were not walking through dense weeds or plants, so I wouldn’t expect to find anymore than a few ticks on either of us. We walked along the ditch on the access road, which was not overgrown. The grass came up, only, to our ankles.

Rather than let A--- continue to fret over the strange creatures attached to his body, I offered to help get them removed. First, I tried to use a wash cloth and scrub or wipe them away. This proved to be ineffective. The only method that worked well was tweezing them off one at a time. JOY! (Get out the specimen jars!! ) I collected approximately 100 and photographed them the best I could without a microscope.