• Splitting hairs to keep the public safe

    Feb 24, 2026 2:30 pm by Lance Eric JonesNatural History Survey
    Man holds up a tick with tweezers, only one eye of his face lit.

    Lance Jones, a plant biology graduate student and technician in the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Medical Entomology Laboratory, identifies species of ticks collected in Illinois or sent in by state residents. The work is vital to understanding the spread of tick-borne diseases in the state. Photo by Fred Zwicky

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    • Man holds up a tick with tweezers, only one eye of his face lit.

    Counting the marginal dorsal hairs on blacklegged tick larvae would probably be a tedious affair for most people. But it is a normal day for me in the Medical Entomology Laboratory of the Illinois Natural History Survey.