What is the tick life cycle?
ticks are a group of more than 800 parasitic arthropods that are closely related to mites. They feed on blood from birds, reptiles and warm mammals. The tick life cycle varies depending on the type and family of ticks, but generally progresses from egg to larvae, then nymph and finally to the adult.
The Argasidae family or the soft tick family includes about 160 species. These arthropods have soft, lump bodies and hidden by mouth. Ixodidae or hard ticks have hard, plated bodies and visible by mouth. Since 2011, scientists have recognized about 650 hard tick varieties. Soft and hard ticks are hatched into puer -legged larvae, also called seed ticks. After melting, they ripen to eight -legged nymphs and then eventually turn into an eight -legged adult ticks that connect, laid eggs and continue in the cycle.
ticks require blood food at every stage of life. Parval and Nympal Ticks cannot melt and transform into the next stage of their development without ingestion of the nutrients that the blood provides. Tick life cycleIt can take only three years to complete, depending on how many hosts it requires.
Some hard ticks such as dog or cattle ticks feed on only one kind and do not change the host. Others switch between animals as they mature. Several species have a cycle of two hosts, but most hard ticks have a cycle of three hosts.
Thirty hard ticks are fed with the blood of small animals, such as birds or mice, while it is still in the larval stage. After melting and becoming an eight -legged nymph, he switches to a larger host like a rabbit. After she melted and ripened into an adult tick, she will change for the third time, this time to an even larger animal like a deer or a cow.
The tick life cycle also varies depending on the number of adulthood to adulthood. Some types of hard ticks molt the only twice. Soft ticks could have up to seven developmental stages notbo Instars before ripening into adults.
Many ticks are unable to complete their life cycle. Some species may survive months or even years without blood food, but the tick life cycle eventually depends on whether the young tick can find a suitable host to feed and prepare for another Instar. Most ticks die because they are unable to find hosts.