Ticks are animals of the arachnid class. Today already found and described more than 54 thousand species of these arthropods. Of the total number, only 144 species have died out. The rest are still alive. This is the largest group of the arachnid class. To “conquer the world” ticks helped a small and fairly wide food spectrum.

Classification principles

Species of ticks are different. Some feed on plant sap, others on rotting organics, third on blood, fourth on dead parts of the epidermis and coat. But there are no highly specialized species among them. If the juice is the juice of many plants. If blood, then from all warm-blooded organisms that live in the area. If organic, then it is still of plant or animal origin. The classification of ticks is multistage. These animals are divided into groups not only by lifestyle, but also by type of food and appearance.

On a note!

These arthropods are not insects, they are closer to animals such as spiders, crabs and crayfish.

What are the ticks

The classification of living organisms in biology is based on phylogenesis - the evolutionary origin and development of species. But debates about the phylogenesis of ticks among scientists do not subside, and in the future the data may change.

On a note!

Parasitiformes superorder includes:

• Order Opilioacarida, which includes only one family of mowing mites. The family contains 25 modern species.
• Order Ixodida includes one superfamily of ixodoid ticks, which is divided into 3 families: Argasidae, Nuttalliellidae - endemic to Africa, which have a single species in the family.
• Order Holothyrida contains 27 species, but all of them are found in the southern regions of the planet and feed on the hemolymph of dead arthropods.
• The order Mesostigmata is the largest in the order, includes more than 70 families containing a total of 8000 species of ticks. Representatives of this squad are predators.

On a note!

For a person, the order of ixodid and mesostigamate is of interest. The first because of the danger to life, the second are useful as assistants in the fight against agricultural pests.

In this order of arachnids, there are more than 30 thousand species. The classification of acariform ticks is quite confusing and is carried out according to different methods. Of interest in this order are sarcoptoid mites that cause ear scabies.

Short description and names of species of ticks

All 54 thousand can be described only by a guide to acarins, so you will have to limit yourself to the most common and living within the reach of the inhabitants of the Russian Federation.

Ixodic

This group of ticks is widespread in Russia. The three most common species have received the collective name "forest" for their addiction to forest biotopes. All species prefer deciduous and mixed forests. Of these, the most common:

• canine;
•   (Dermacentor reticulatus);
• genus Haemaphysalis.

A tick with a pattern on the back - meadow (Dermacentor reticulatus). In the forests without undergrowth, he does not occur. This tick in the grass is waiting for the victim, because of which it is often called a grass tick. Prefers open spaces: edges, water meadows, pastures. It can tolerate flooding by melt water. Very cold resistant. Its activity begins earlier than that of taiga. The peak of activity falls on April-May. It ceases its activity only with the onset of cold weather.

His closest relatives of the same kind are found:

•   (Dermacentor marginatus) in the steppes and forest-steppes of Kazakhstan, the European part of the Russian Federation, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, in the south of Western Siberia;
•   - Siberian forests;
• Dermacentor silvarum - forest-steppe of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

All these species have a characteristic pattern on the back, which can be seen in the photo of the meadow tick below.

Taiga, in addition to the "honorary" title, is also called the "wood tick". He does not sit in the trees, waiting for the victim, but few people wonder where this animal came from on the clothes. Many believe that it jumped from a tree branch. Moreover, this species prefers forests rather than open spaces.

Similar habits in the ixodic Haemaphysalis family. But ticks of this family prefer deciduous forests, where they wait for the victim, sitting on the grass. They live in Crimea, the Far East and Transcaucasia. They can be found in the south of Altai, Western Siberia and in Transbaikalia.

Ixods are similar not only in appearance but also in lifestyle. The sexually mature female tick only eats once, preferring large mammals. A drunk female falls away from the victim to complete. Ticks of the ixodidae family lay eggs up to 17 thousand. Units survive to puberty due to the large number and difficulties in finding a victim. The female does a laying on moist soil. The hatched larva finds a victim and, having drunk blood, falls away to turn into a nymph. The nymph's actions are exactly the same.

Natural enemies

Ixodians eat:

• birds;
• small reptiles;
• predatory insects;
• other predatory mites;
• ants.

The destruction of the habitat of these creatures leads to an increase in the number of ticks.

Argasovye

This family includes the largest representatives of the tick superorder. Size can be from 3 to 30 mm. The total number of species in the family is 200. 12 species can attack a person, causing a severe allergic reaction. Argas also tolerate 2 types of relapsing fever and tick-borne borreliosis. For humans are dangerous:

• persian;
• caucasian;
• township;
• conch.

Europe and Russia have been familiar with the last three for a long time. Persian is a new species of ticks imported from the Middle East. In endemic areas, he suffers a fever, which is very difficult for foreigners.

Externally and in behavior is very similar to, but larger. Body length up to 10 cm, width up to 5 mm. The main target of the attack is birds. It also attacks people and is able to jump on a person from the ceiling. Active at night.

On a note!

Tick \u200b\u200bmites are not built, but a female Persian tick lays 30-100 eggs in cracks on the walls. Such a masonry can be equated to a nest, especially during the mass reproduction of arthropods.

And itch itch (Sarcoptes scabiei), affecting a person. Sarcoptiform ticks of animals and humans do not intersect. That is, you can not get scabies from a dog.

The external characteristics of the mites of the Sarcoptiformes order are so similar that there is debate in the scientific community whether to consider them as one species or several. But the nutritional objects of these small arthropods are different. A photo of a human tick causing scabies below.

But not all arthropods are equally harmful. There are also harmless and even necessary.

Saprophytes

These are arthropods that feed on decaying organics. Mite saprophytes are relatively harmless. Most of them process rotting organic matter, improving soil quality like earthworms. But the well-known "dust allergy" actually arises from the presence of Dermatophagoides farinae in the house.

These are microscopic creatures with a size of 0.1-0.5 mm. They feed on epidermal flakes, particles of fallen hair and animal hair, and waste products.

The "dust allergy" is actually caused not by house dust, but by the excrement of dust mites and particles of the shells of dead arthropods. Dermatophagoides farinae live in uncleaned dust in corners and under furniture, in sofas, pillows, mattresses. For carry out regular thorough cleaning and processing of upholstered furniture.

The size of ticks is very small - from 0.2 mm to 5 mm, while the dimensions of the female are slightly larger than the dimensions of only some species can reach 3 cm in length. The study of ticks is a section of zoology called acarology.

Of the variety of species in a person’s home, one can find gamasid ticks, saprophytes (house dust mites) and ixodid ticks.

Feeding on the blood of mammals, they can penetrate into living quarters with rodents (rats and mice) and usually live in places of communication (in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the toilet), under baseboards, behind furniture.

It is almost impossible to see small dust with the naked eye. In human dwellings, they are most often found in pile of carpet on the floor, as well as in furniture upholstery, in soft toys, on clothes, in bedding - pillows, mattresses, blankets. The food for them is exfoliated particles of human skin.

Ixodid ticks can get into housing by attaching themselves to human clothing or animal hair, as well as things, firewood, bouquets of flowers, etc. The food for them is the blood and lymph of mammals, while the saturation process can last up to three weeks.

Ticks attack their prey during the warm season - from April to October, the most activity occurs in late spring - early summer. It is worth noting that the number of ticks that can infect a person with any disease, including tick-borne encephalitis, or Crimean, is only 1%, that is, bites of 99% of ticks are not dangerous for humans.

Ticks do not jump on their prey, they wait for it on the ground or in the grass. Once on the body, the tick does not immediately attach to the skin - it can take several hours before this point, which means that if you have small ticks in time to notice, then the bite can be avoided.

Having spotted, the tick bites through the skin and inserts into the wound a special pharyngeal outgrowth (hypostome) covered with chitinous teeth, which looks like a harpoon. That is why a tick, the size of which increases as it is filled with blood, is difficult to extract. This is usually done with tweezers. After removing the tick, the wound is treated with iodine solution or alcohol. Dressing is optional. Whether a person has been bitten by an encephalitis tick, the size and appearance of which does not differ from non-encephalitis, can only be determined in laboratory conditions, and therefore it is necessary to contact a medical institution as soon as possible.

To protect yourself from ticks, it is necessary to take special protection measures before going to the forest - put on clothes with long sleeves, put trousers in socks, wear a headdress and, if possible, use repellents that repel mites, which are applied to exposed areas of the body and clothes . If you plan to visit often places where attacks of these arthropods are possible, it is best to get a tick-borne encephalitis vaccine. Returning home, you should especially carefully examine yourself and your pet for pests, since the size of ticks that have not yet sucked onto the skin does not immediately detect them.

Compliance with these basic safety measures can save not only health, but also, possibly, life.

Ticks belong to the largest group of the subclass of arthropods. In the process of evolution, they showed high adaptability to external conditions - they reached microscopically small sizes and developed soil rich in nutritious humus. More than 54 thousand species of ticks are known, a whole section of zoology is devoted to their study - acarology, and they are also considered as the most common disease vectors in veterinary medicine and medicine.

The body of the tick in length usually does not exceed 0.2-0.4 mm. It can be soft and leathery or covered with a hard shell. On the body are 4-6 pairs of legs with a complex structure, including a basin, trochanter, thigh, knee, lower leg and foot with claws and suction cups. Jaws are located at the front of the ticks, and behind them are the tentacles, which serve as grasping devices. An animal can be blind or have up to 5 eyes, in most of them 4.

Pathogens and carriers of diseases

It is most relevant for a person to know what types of ticks are dangerous to health. One of the worst diseases is encephalitis, characterized by inflammation of the brain. It can take different forms, with some of them the prognosis is favorable, and recovery occurs within a few weeks.

Unfortunately, more often the disease has a severe course and is accompanied by neurological disorders or paralysis, can lead to a coma and subsequent death. Any of the species of ticks in humans can be encephalitis, but, unfortunately, they can cause other unpleasant diseases.

Ixodidae

The latter disease, also called Lyme disease, is contagious. Its outcome depends on the timeliness of diagnosis and the start of proper treatment. With adequate therapy, early manifestations (fever, headache, rash, with a genetic predisposition - pathological processes of tissues, nervous system or eyes) are stopped by antibiotics, otherwise the disease can become chronic and result in disability or death.

Argasovye (Argasidae)

The family includes one of the most dangerous species - Caucasian, Persian, township and shell mites. Outwardly, they look like 3-30 mm arthropods with a leathery body. Ticks, drunk with blood, have a purple color, and hungry - grayish or yellow-brown. They are characterized by high survival and can do without food for 11 years.

Gamasina (Gamasina)

Dusty (Dermatophagoides)

The lifestyle of ticks in house dust is firmly connected with the dwelling of a person. High humidity and room temperature are favorable conditions for them. These animals, whose dimensions do not exceed 0.1-0.5 mm, live in bed, carpets and upholstered furniture, paper books. The mites that live there feed on woolen nap and dead skin particles of people, leave their waste products, females lay their eggs.

Tick \u200b\u200bexcrement contains enzymes that destroy epidermal cells and cause allergic reactions. Sensitive people are therefore subject to bouts of the following diseases:

• bronchial asthma (narrowing of the bronchi, characterized by cough, stuffiness in the chest, shortness of breath);
• atopic dermatitis (rash, hypersensitivity to irritants);
• hay fever (inflammation of the nasal mucosa, accompanied by secretions and sneezing due to allergic reactions);
• conjunctivitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eye, manifested by redness of the protein, lacrimation, swelling of the eyelids and photophobia).

To combat dust mites, you need to regularly do wet cleaning and vacuum clean carpets and furniture. In addition, it is considered useful to make a bed not immediately after lifting, but after a while so that arthropods die in the fresh air.

Pests

• Flour or barn (Acarus siro, Acaroidea). Small animals with an oval colorless body and a size of only 0.3-0.67 mm can cause significant damage to the products stored in the house. They damage the seeds of cereal and herbaceous plants, flax, sunflower and animal feed. They will not refuse dried fruits, cheese, meat, cereals and, of course, flour, as the name implies. Mite-affected foods should not be eaten, as it is dangerous for the occurrence of gastrointestinal and renal diseases. You can deal with pests by storing food they are interested in in airtight containers or at low temperatures and treating barns and storerooms with acaricides.

All these species, unfortunately, live in Russia and damage the agricultural sector, destroying part of the crop. They fight them, cultivating the soil, mechanically removing pests, using toxic substances and biological protection, which means the use of predatory organisms that feed on ticks.

Useful ticks

This means that based on tick saliva, you can create new drugs for various diseases, previously inaccessible. And now there is a drug used for blood diseases.

About what types of ticks can be judged by the value that they have in human life. As it turned out, although some of them are harmful to health and the household, others contribute to soil formation, due to which plants are better developed and nourished, and can be useful in pharmaceuticals. Therefore, in the diversity of nature there are no superfluous organisms, all of them play a significant role in the environment.

We have been scared of ticks since childhood. As soon as the corresponding season begins, the incidence of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis immediately increases. So fear has reason.

In this article we will analyze in detail who ticks are, how dangerous they are, how these animals look, where they can be caught and how to protect themselves from them. We will discuss other important topics that you could not even suspect about. Let's get started.

Are ticks insects or not?

There is a common misconception that a tick is an insect. But nothing of the kind. In childhood, parents could tell us that they are not insects. So, ticks are relatives of spiders, they belong to the class of arachnids.

How do they differ from insects:

1. Four pairs of paws. Each tick has eight legs, while insects have only six.
2. The absence of antennae. Insects have them.
3. Two parts of the body (or as biologists say, a segment). Insects have three segments - the head, chest and abdomen. In ticks, two segments are connected into one and is called the cephalothorax.

It is worth noting that arachnids, from an evolutionary point of view, are more primitive and ancient than insects. What is common between insects and ticks? The fact that both of them belong to the class of arthropods.

What ticks are there?

Ticks, in turn, are not of the same species. There are a huge number of them.

They differ literally in everything: lifestyle, size and degree of danger to humans. Some mites are completely harmless, others can cause allergies (dust mites). Well, there is a species that can kill a person with one bite.

  There are such types of ticks:

Types of ticks in humans

People may have these mites:

Ticks in dogs and cats

Ear mites, which we have already discussed above, also live on dogs and cats. All species can inhabit both humans and animals.

What ticks are found in Russia?

In Russia, most often you can find such ticks:

1. Ixodic.   We have already talked about him enough. They can be found throughout Russia, but not everywhere they are carriers of encephalitis. Most likely to get this terrible disease among the residents of Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk. A little less - Omsk, Tyumen, Irkutsk. But if you live in Yakutsk, Moscow, Murmansk and other similar cities, then the probability is very low. Nevertheless, if suddenly a tick bites you, it is better to consult a doctor. Most ixodid ticks love places where the climate is temperate and the spring is warm enough. The best chance of catching an ixodid tick in crowded places. They feel great where you can enjoy fresh blood.
2. Pasture tick. We have not talked about him yet. Well, you need to fix it. It lives in the steppes of Russia, in the European part of our country. They can also be found in Western Siberia. He likes to live in pasture mites in humid, warm regions where the climate is temperate. Both livestock and humans can pick up an animal. It is activated in the summer. Nevertheless, he does not like excessive solar activity, like other brothers.
3. Brown dog tick.   It can be found in the Black Sea coast. His favorite food is pets and people. It does not spread encephalitis, but it can infect Marseilles fever. You can get infected from it through dogs. Most often they are picked up by the owners of these pets.

What color are the ticks?

The color of ticks is standard for all arachnids.

Most often, this animal can be one of the following colors:

1. Brown.
2. Orangeish.
3. White.
4. Brownish gray.

No matter what the color, they can be potentially dangerous.

Are there ticks with wings?

Contrary to popular belief, ticks never flew. Just many people confuse ticks and deer bloodsucker. Although in fact, the latter is closer to flies than to ticks. Generally, this is an insect. Here he has wings.

Another common misconception is that ticks can jump. Also a myth. They, like any other arachnids, crawl.

They hunt humans or animals as follows:

1. The tick lives in places where there is tall grass. They do not know how to climb high, and therefore they guard at a relatively low altitude. By this we debunk another myth that ticks seem to live on trees.
2. Ticks have a very good sense of smell. Consequently, they hear the smell of the victim’s blood and begin to run fast enough to it.
3. The tick can climb for a long time and look for a good place to stick. Sometimes searches can last several hours.

So we see that ticks with wings do not exist.   But they are pretty good sprinters. Well, what can you do if you need to stick to a prey that moves fast enough?

What size ticks?

We already realized that ticks can be of different sizes.

In a nutshell, this topic is not fully disclosed. The reason is that the life span of ticks is affected not only by the type of animal, but also by its living conditions.

But we will try to highlight certain points:

1. The average lifespan of an ixodid tick is about 2 years. Although it is necessary to take into account not only environmental features, but also what stages of development are taken into account. The maximum lifespan of an ixodid tick, including the early stages of development, is eight years, the minimum is six months. Although sometimes there are individuals who are able to live much longer.
2. Bed mites live in favorable conditions for four months.   If the apartment is regularly cleaned regularly, then their life expectancy is significantly reduced.
3. The life span of the scabies mite depends on many factors, and human immunity is important. In the air, they die in just a few hours. In addition, the life expectancy of animals is affected by how quickly a person goes to a doctor and appropriate treatment is started. you will find here.

Where do ticks live?

As already mentioned, ticks can live around the globe, and everywhere there are places favorable for their existence.

  For the animal to develop, good conditions are enough, which are:

1. High humidity. Therefore, there are many of them in those places where plants do not allow moisture to leave the habitat of animals. That is why so many ticks can be picked up in forests, parks and other places with actively developing vegetation.
2. The presence of grass. As already mentioned, the main habitat of ticks is tall grass. This is where they can be found.

Contrary to a common misconception, ticks can also be picked up in the city, which is confirmed by numerous dog owners. Moreover, it is quite possible to pick up borreliosis or encephalitis in the city, so you need to observe precautions.

What does a tick bite look like?

Here, too, everything can be different depending on which tick has bitten, whether it has managed to unhook and whether it is contagious.

Pay attention to such moments:

1. The tick bite is painless.   Therefore, a person can already after the fact see a roundish redness and a mild allergic reaction of a local nature.
2. If a person caught Lyme disease, then the bite resembles the planet Saturn.   In the center is a rounded redness, and around it at a distance is a red ring, which over time becomes larger. If Lyme disease develops further, then a scar appears at the site of the bite, and the central place becomes white or cyanotic.

How to protect yourself from tick bites?

To protect yourself from a tick bite, be sure to follow this instruction:

And remember that if you suddenly find a sucking tick or bite that looks like the one described above, then be sure to consult a doctor.

Conclusion

So, we figured out what ticks are, what are dangerous, what diseases cause, where they live, in which areas it is safer to live, in what - less what to do to protect yourself from bites, what to do if it suddenly happened, how many live ticks and many other issues.

Hopefully this article has been helpful to you. It is not necessary to be afraid of ticks, but in any case, God saves those who are safe. Take precautions and be careful.

But in addition to the epidemiological significance, ixodid ticks are very interesting due to the unique characteristics of their biology and interaction with their owners. Many of these nuances we will consider in more detail ...

Members of the family

The family Ixodidae, despite the relatively small number of species included in it, is characterized by a significant variety of its representatives both in appearance and (to a greater extent) in lifestyle.

One of the most typical and famous representatives is the taiga tick Ixodes persulcatus, which lives mainly in the northeastern regions of Russia and is a carrier of spring-summer tick-borne encephalitis. With the onset of the warm season, his nymphs after wintering in forest litter begin to hunt small mammals and reptiles, and adult adults are looking for large animals (or humans) to feed.

Below the photo shows adult representatives of this species:

Species of ixodid from the genus Dermacentor, recognizable by the white enamel pattern on the dorsal shield and also living in Europe and the European part of Russia, are the main carriers of tularemia and tick-borne typhus:

On the Black Sea and Caspian coasts, a brown dog tick is common, which can tolerate Marseille spotted fever. At each stage of development, such a tick feeds only on dogs, but a person can become infected if the tick is crushed and then infects the mucous membranes of the mouth, eyes, or nose.

Photo of brown dog tick:

The photo below shows the Amblyomma sculptum pig tick:

On a note

Today, the family is systematically divided into two groups, one of which includes, in fact, the genus Ixodes, and the other all the rest. But the lack of data on fossil species still leaves open the question of the taxonomy of the group of ixodid ticks.

Appearance and anatomical features of ixodid ticks

The appearance of ixodid ticks is quite recognizable. Adult representatives of most species in a hungry state reach sizes of about 5 mm, and their body is strongly flattened in the dorsal-abdominal direction.

In the photo below, the gnatosome of the fed female is visible:

Ixodid ticks have olfactory organs on their paws, and therefore they usually wait for their prey, putting them forward. Also on the body and legs there are many bristles that help to stay on different surfaces, serve as an element of protection and help in resettlement.

Adult individuals have differences in morphology, depending on gender - females have only a small shield on the back, while in males the shield covers the entire back. This is due to the fact that females feed much more intensively, and a large shield - a solid chitinous formation - will interfere with the stretching of the body when the blood is sucked.

On a note

It is worth noting that the stretching is due to a special cuticle that completely covers the body of the tick. In a hungry individual, this cuticle contains many micro folds and grooves that straighten out during saturation, and the body expands, acquiring a rounded shape and a grayish tint. The color of a hungry tick can vary from tan to almost black.

The oral apparatus of ixodid ticks is ideally suited for feeding blood on hosts with dense integument. It consists of a base, a proboscis, one pair of chelicera, enclosed in cases, and a pair of palps. The base of the proboscis is a capsule with a dense chitinous cover, where the ducts of the salivary glands are located. Paws consist of 4 segments and perform a tactile function.

The hypostome, or proboscis, is a rigid chitin plate fixedly attached to the base. On it are rows of sharp, bent back hooks that help cut through the skin like a saw and fasten in it like a harpoon.

In addition to painkillers and blood anticoagulants, a special protein secret is present in the saliva of the tick, which hardens around the invading proboscis. This provides additional reliability when attached to the skin - a kind of "cement case".

Lifestyle & Habitats

Ixodid ticks are generally very slow - in their entire life, each individual passes no more than a couple of tens of meters.

It is interesting

Distribution of ixodid

Ixodid ticks are ubiquitous, and are found on all continents of the globe. But, as for any organism, there are limiting factors for them. First of all, it is the need for optimal temperature and humidity. Even in the same forest in different parts of it, a different microclimate prevails. In meadows open to sunlight, moisture may not be sufficient for the normal functioning of ticks. And, for example, at the edge of the forest or in the forest, there may be plenty of water. Therefore, the distribution of ixodids in any geographical area is intermittent, mosaic.

The presence of suitable hosts is also important, but the ixodidae are highly plastic, and therefore often able to survive almost everywhere where terrestrial vertebrates live.

Altitude is also not a serious limitation for ticks: they are found in all altitude zones - from sea level to high mountains. For example, Ixodes acutitarsus is often found in the Himalayas above forest level.

However, the largest variety of ixodid ticks is observed in subtropical and tropical latitudes. The further you move away from them, the fewer species of ixodids can be found.

One of the most famous ticks - taiga - has distribution within the boundaries of the range bounded by Kamchatka and Sakhalin from the north, and the Moscow Region from the south. Its relative dog tick is found in North Africa and throughout Europe, reaching the Volga itself. Brown dog tick, as already mentioned, prefers coastal areas, including Crimea and the Caucasus. It is these species that pose the greatest epidemiological danger to the inhabitants of Russia and European countries.

Owners of different types of ixodid ticks

There are also double-mite ticks - this means that the larva, having pumped blood, does not leave its first host. Turning into a nymph, she bites him again, and only after that falls away from the first victim. For the third time, an adult tick will bite another animal.

Interesting fact

The duration of the nutritional period of the tick increases with each subsequent stage of development. Larvae can attach to the hosts for 3-5 days, nymphs for 3-8, and adults are saturated with blood up to 10-12 days. Moreover, the effect of ticks on an animal depends on many factors: the susceptibility of the host, its mass, and the general degree of infection.

Often, severe tick-borne infection leads to a massive mortality of livestock. For example, 3-4 female ticks per 1 kg of body in an ordinary sheep are already a threat of imminent death.

If too many ticks are sucked on the animal, this entails large losses of blood and acute intoxication with saliva. Ixodide saliva contains many proteins that can cause severe immunological reactions.   In addition, tissue damage in the area of \u200b\u200bthe bite can result in suppuration and additional infection, not to mention diseases that can be transmitted by ticks themselves.

Nutrition specifics

Before you start sucking blood, the tick usually looks for a suitable place on the host’s body for a long time. He will definitely prefer a site with delicate thin skin, so often ticks are found on the neck, behind the ears, in the inguinal region, on the bends of the limbs.

If the tick is infected with any infection, then at that moment the pathogens will begin to penetrate the host tissue.

In addition, saliva contains vasodilating substances and components that prevent blood coagulation (anticoagulants). All this is necessary to ensure successful long-term nutrition of the tick.

On a note

Ixodides have several amazing biology features that are characteristic of only a few representatives. One of them - aphagia - is a phenomenon in which adult males of certain species do not eat at all, but are engaged in fertilization of the fed females, after which they immediately die.

Another interesting phenomenon that is characteristic only of ticks is omovampirism, in which hungry ticks (usually males) do not disdain an attack on their well-fed relatives. They pierce the body of a fellow and suck some of the blood from it. What is noteworthy: the victim mite remains alive after such an unceremonious intervention in its metabolic processes, and if it is a female, then it is quite capable of safely laying eggs after this.

Reproduction and development

A common characteristic for all ixodids in terms of reproduction and development is not easy to give. They have a huge variety of life cycles in terms of the total duration and seasonal activity of hungry individuals. All three active stages can develop in one warm season, sometimes even several generations form during this time. In other cases, the transition from an egg to a larva, a nymph, and then an adult requires a lot of time, and the cycle stretches for up to five years.

The total duration of blood sucking on the host over the entire life of an ixodid tick reaches a total of about 15 days, which is an extremely small fraction of the total duration of ontogenesis. But during this time, serious qualitative changes occur in the tick’s body, associated not only with the stretching of the integument during nutrition, but also with the development of its body as a whole. Due to this, after saturation, the larva becomes a nymph, and that, in turn, is an adult.

As already mentioned, at different stages of development, ticks attack animals of different sizes. If at the first two stages small rodents, reptiles and birds become victims of the majority of ixodids, then adults already prefer large animals, including ungulates and humans.

Reproduction of ixodid ticks is also not without interesting details. The search for a partner and the pairing itself most often occurs directly on the host. This is because the search for each other in nature is extremely difficult due to the solitary lifestyle, wide habitat and low mobility.

In addition, individuals of some species are generally incapable of mating without being saturated with blood. Therefore, the ideal place for a “date” is just at the meal. On 3-5 days of bloodsucking, adult ixodid females begin to secrete special compounds - pheromones, which attract males.

Mating is carried out directly during the feeding of the female, which she does not interrupt for several days after insemination. The male either dies immediately after mating, or can consume another portion of blood and go off to look for a new female.

By the way, the nutrition of ticks differs depending on gender. In general, all ixodids are characterized by a much shorter suction of males to the host compared with females - they only need a couple of hours to saturate. And the very body of males is not adapted for large volumes of blood - it is surrounded on all sides by rigid inextensible shields.

After the fertilized female is fed with enough blood, she drops away from the host and prepares for the egg-laying process. Their maturation takes from several days to a month, and occurs due to nutrients obtained from the blood of the last victim.

The laying process itself is also lengthy - from three weeks to two months. In this case, a female dog tick will lay an average of 2000-3000 thousand eggs, but individuals of more exotic tropical species - up to 20 thousand eggs, and sometimes even 30 thousand or more.

Ixodid ticks are dangerous, primarily, as carriers of many infectious diseases, and therefore are of great medical importance. In terms of the variety of transmitted infections, they are ahead of all arthropods, including mosquitoes.

About 100 viruses, 200 species of pyroplasmids, dozens of species of rickettsia, trypanosomes and bacteria were isolated from mites collected in nature. But still, infection with certain infections is not the norm for ixodids - ticks become infected with them either by eating on a sick animal, or even in an egg from an infected mother.

With rare exceptions, the propagating pathogen does not do any harm to the tick, unlike its possible host.

The photograph below shows erythema migrans - a characteristic sign of Lyme disease:

It is important to note that even uninfected ticks with a large number of them on one host cause him great harm. Wounds from the penetration of proboscis ixodid can additionally become infected with pathogens from the surface of the skin or from the air. Such damage can then fester and not heal for a long time, causing severe discomfort. With an impressive amount of sucking ticks, the host also begins to suffer from blood loss. This poses a risk of developing anemia incompatible with life.

Ways to protect against and control ticks

There are several effective ways to protect against bites of ixodid ticks in nature. The simplest thing you can do is dress properly when hiking in a potentially dangerous area. Shirts with a high collar and a long sleeve with tight-fitting cuffs, long trousers and, if possible, closed high shoes are suitable for this.

It is advisable to tuck pants into socks, and a shirt into pants. It is also good to use smooth and light fabrics in clothes, for which the tick is more difficult to cling to and on which dark ticks are clearly visible.

Among the active control measures, spraying clothes and animal hair with repellents containing diethyltoluamide (DETA), dimethyl phthalate, repudin, diethyl phthalate, carboxyl, rephthal and others is effective. For animals, there are also tablet and injection preparations that provide resistance to tick bites for a certain time.

Among folk remedies, self-prepared protective sprays are popular. They are made from natural essential oils, vinegar or ointments with pungent odors, mixing them with water. Perhaps they have some effect, but a person needs to be prepared to endure the annoying smell of the drug himself, which is not suitable for everyone. In any case, by the strength of the protective effect, such drugs are mostly inferior to agents based on powerful synthetic repellents.

It is important at the same time not to try to pull out the tick with a simple tearing motion - in this case, you can tear its body from the head, which will remain in the skin and lead to suppuration.

In regions where tick-borne encephalitis cases have been repeatedly reported, there is a well-functioning system for the prevention of this disease. It includes both vaccinations and emergency care right after being bitten by an infected tick.

If desired, you can take a course of vaccination from several vaccinations, one after the other in a strict time ratio. This course provides reliable protection against the disease, but vaccination must be repeated periodically, because immunity to encephalitis after it lasts only about a year.

If a tick infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus has already bitten, and a person has not been vaccinated before, then an emergency injection of anti-encephalitis gamma globulin will be effective within the first three to four days. This protein specifically binds to the pathogen and prevents the disease from developing.

Garden plots can be expediently treated to destroy ticks on them. To combat ixodids, special acaricides are used - in large areas they are sprayed with the help of aviation, in small areas - with manual and motor sprayers.

On a note

Previously, long-acting drugs were widely used as means for treating the territory - for example, DDT (dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane) and HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane). They showed high efficiency in killing ticks, but also proved to be dangerous to the environment and people themselves.

Today, to get rid of ticks in the territories of sanatoriums, recreation centers and children's camps, safer drugs are used: karbofos, trichlophos, chlorpyrifos, fenthion, permethrin, cypermethrin and others. It is preferable to poison ticks with the help of professional disinsectors - they have access to modern effective drugs and are able to use them correctly.

The control over the number of ticks helps to maintain their natural enemies in nature. Here, predators are often fed by ixodids, the diversity of which is quite large: spiders, beetles, ants, wasps, millipedes. Amphibians, reptiles and birds eat them, and the latter can even eat wintering ticks in places of their shelters. That is why it is useful not only to treat the area with acaricides, but also to make ticks attractive to natural enemies.

Interesting video: curious facts about ixodid ticks ...

Test effectiveness of various tick protection products