As its Latin and English names both suggest, this tick has a strong preference for feeding on rabbits and snowshoe hares. A very strong preference. Individual animals have been found infested with thousands -- and in some cases tens of thousands -- of ticks attached to them. No word on who got to count all those ticks.

Rabbit ticks are extremely common in Canada, and while their presence has been documented in all provinces, very little research has gone into nailing down their natural history. Not surprisingly, they tend to hang out where rabbits nest, making it easy for them to find a source of blood when it comes time to moult. If for some reason a rabbit isn't readily available, they aren't shy about climbing up onto nearby plant material to wait until a small mammal, roughly the size of a rabbit, wanders past. They don't climb much past ankle height though. They really, really, really want to snag a hare or a rabbit, so there's no need for them to head for the clouds. Ground foraging birds are a popular alternate blood source, and some references refer to these ticks as grouse ticks for this reason.

Very rarely does this tick ever bite humans. One researcher noted that it's only likely a person would be bitten by this tick is if they stepped into a rabbit's nest. So don't step in any of those and you should be golden.

Because not a whole lot of study has been made of this tick or its habits, not much is known about its ability to transmit or maintain diseases. There has been some suggestion that it may play a role in transmission cycles of Lyme bacteria in nature. There is also some evidence to suggest it can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever (and possibly other forms of Rickettsia bacteria), Q fever, and rabbit fever. So a cautious heads-up is warranted.

But seriously, this tick has no interest in you. Stay out of rabbit nests and you should be okay. Step in a rabbit nest and you will likely still be okay, but there are so many reasons not to do that beyond the basic ick factor that you probably aren't going to do that anyway.

Photo credit: CBG Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics