What is a tick?
Ticks are small arachnids in the order Parasitiformes. Along with mites, they constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites meaning they live on the exterior of their hosts. They live by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. Although they are in the same family, ticks should not be confused with being a species of spider. [9] What does a tick look like? |
Basic Tick Anatomy
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Male ticks are usually smaller than females. Males have an inflexible scutum that spans the entire dorsal surface; among females the scutum is less than half the size of males, and limited to a small region directly behind the head. Since the females have a softer dorsal shield there is more room for the body to expand while feeding on the blood of its host. [4]
Ticks go through four stages of their life cycle: egg, six-legged larva, eight-legged nymph, and adult. After hatching from the eggs, ticks must feed on the blood of their host at every stage to survive. The larva make up the largest portion of the life cycle, and this phase lasts for almost a whole year before maturing into nymphs. Ticks that require as many hosts as they do can take up to 3 years to complete their full life cycle, and most will die because they don't find a host for their next feeding.[1]
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Many people make the mistake of grouping ticks with other insects such as fleas or mosquitoes , however they actually are more closely related to spiders. Ticks are arachnids since they have four pairs of legs while insects have three with a segmented body style. Even though they are in the arachnid family they are not to be confused with spider. Spiders have two body segments, while ticks don’t have any body segmentation at all. The body of the tick is designed for stealth. It has a flattened body making it easier to grab onto hosts while remaining inconspicuous. Adult ticks are usually smaller than sesame seeds and they are colored to blend in with their environment. The legs of a tick have spines on them which allow the ticks to grasp their hosts when it moves close by. The mouth part is made up of three different components: two palps which don’t contribute much in the way of feeding, the chelicerae which cuts through the hosts skin, and the hypostome which is a needle like barbed which allows the tick to borrow into the hosts skin and stay there until it is finished feeding. [3]
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