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What is a tick and what do ticks look like? |
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What is a Tick? Ticks are tiny bloodsucking parasites which feed on mammals, birds, and reptiles. There are approximately 850 species of ticks found worldwide. Ticks belong to the class Arachnida. This class includes spiders, scorpions and mites. Ticks are split into two groups “soft” and “hard” ticks. There are seven types of hard ticks and five types of soft ticks. Ticks go through four stages in it’s life: egg, larvae, nymph , and adult. The larvae have six legs while the nymphs and adults have eight. Ticks carry diseases, are a nuisance, and cause paralysis. What do ticks look like? The front part of the tick is made of the “head” area and the mouth parts. The mouthparts have a central structure. The hypostome is shaped like a dull harpoon, flat on the top and curved on the bottom where many sharp barbs are located. The tick pushes the hypostome into a hole in the skin of a host that has been made by sharp teeth in the front of the hypostome. The barbs hold the tick to the skin. This is why it is always so hard to remove a tick. Some ticks actually use a cement like substance that holds the tick to the skin. The sharp teeth at the front of the hypstome cut blood vessels under the skin. This causes the blood to form a pool. Then the tick can easily suck up the blood into its gut. To prevent clotting the tick injects saliva containing a kind of anticoagulant intop the blood. The saliva might contain a diseased organism , like borrelia burgdorferi which is the cause of lyme disease. |