The natural history of ticks☆
Section snippets
SYSTEMATICS
Ticks are classified into two major families, Ixodidae (hard-bodied ticks) and Argasidae (soft-bodied ticks). A third family, Nuttalliellidae, contains a single species. Almost 840 species have been described throughout the world (Table 1). The Ixodidae, characterized by a sclerotized dorsal shield, is the largest and most important family, comprising about 670 species. The Argasidae, with a flexible and leathery exoskeleton, has about 167 species. Species in both families have four stages in
MORPHOLOGIC APPEARANCE OF TICKS
The body of the tick is characterized by the fusion of most of the segments into two parts.9, 56 The anterior end known as the capitulum(Fig. 1) consists of the mouth parts (hypostome and chelicerae), palps, and an integumental ring encircling the mouth parts known as the basis capituli. The posterior part, called the idiosoma, includes the region to which the legs are attached, the genital pore, and the region posterior to the coxae bearing the spiracles and the anal aperture.
Argasid ticks
MAINTENANCE OF WATER BALANCE DURING FEEDING AND FASTING
Although ticks are noted for their attachment to humans and animals, nearly all species spend most of their life off their hosts. Their life essentially is composed of relatively short parasitic periods and extended nonfeeding periods without intake of food or liquid. Ixodes scapularis spends about 2 to 3 weeks of its life feeding on hosts and about 101 weeks off animals. Tremendous demands are placed on the tick's water balance during both phases of its life.35, 42, 54 During engorgement,
TICK FEEDING
Ticks have a uniquely developed system of deriving nutrients from their hosts. They attach to the skin of the host by using their hypostome as an anchor and creating a feeding lesion to ingest blood or tissue fluids.9, 37 Soft-bodied adult ticks fully engorge within minutes or within a few hours. Hard-bodied ticks take days to complete feeding and feed on blood, lymph, and lysed tissues from a pool that forms around themouthparts. Pharmacologic agents in the saliva have antihemostatic,
LIFE CYCLES
All ticks are obligate parasites that spend only part of their life on a host animal, and all have relative complex natural histories. Developmental stages of argasid ticks include egg, larva, nymph with two to seven instars or growth stages, and adult.9 Each active stage usually completes feeding within 1 hour, although there are exceptions. Larval Ornithodoros moubata do not feed,32 whereas larvae of other species may feed for several days. Adult females feed several times, depositing small
SUMMARY
Ticks have evolved to become one of the most important groups of arthropod vectors of human pathogens. One or more of the approximately 840 known species of ticks are found in most terrestrial regions of the earth. Ticks are a highly specialized group of obligate, bloodsucking, nonpermanent ectoparasitic arthropods that feed on mammals, birds, and reptiles. They are classified into two major families, Ixodidae (hard-bodied ticks) and Argasidae (soft-bodied ticks). The Ixodidae is the largest
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2021, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and WildlifeCitation Excerpt :Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) are parasites of obligate blood-sucking arthropod on the body surface of animals and are important vectors for many kinds of pathogens because of its extensive host range (Anderson, 2002; Khatri-Chhetri et al., 2016).
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This work was supported by Hatch grant 344.