Kingdom animalia
Phylum Arthropod
Class Arachnid
Order Ixodide
Ticks belong to the Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Chelicerata, Class Arachnida, Subclass Acarina., Order Ixodida, and Families Ixodidae and Argasidae. They are ectoparasites and hematophagous, that is: they feed on the blood of mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians and can do this until they burst – literally!
They are usually oval, spherical in shape when feeding. Some are permanent parasites and others are temporary, living a few moments of their life cycles in their host.
As for the life cycle, they go through the egg, larva, nymph and adult stages, and the last three need a host to provide food. Fertilized females, after feeding, place their eggs in a protected place and each egg gives rise to a larva, which develops to the adult stage.
Reproduction in ticks is internally sexual, with direct development and unisexual: females are formed by parthenogenesis and males, by fertilization. In this type of asexual reproduction, when unfertilized eggs give rise to females, it is called telitoca parthenogenesis.
More than 800 species are known in the world that they occupy, except Antarctica, all continents, in the most diverse environments: bush, wood, crevices, plants, animals, etc. Some, belonging to the Ixodidae family, have a resistant carapace made of chitin and are of greater medical and veterinary interest, because of the damage they can cause. Those belonging to the Argasidae family are known as “soft ticks”, due to the absence of this structure.
As for the harm they cause, depending on the amount of animals present in the host, they can provide damage due to the excess of lost blood; due to substances in their saliva, they can cause allergy, irritation, fever and even paralysis; and they can transmit diseases, as they are vectors of diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoa and rickettsiae – they only lose to mosquitoes the title of vector that most harms life human.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
As for these, they can transmit: encephalitis and hemorrhagic fevers (diseases caused by viruses); tularemia (can attack the skin, eyes and lungs), ehrlichiosis (attacks red blood cells and white blood cells, mainly monocytes and neutrophils), spotted fever, Lyme disease (skin changes, flu-like symptoms, musculoskeletal, arthritic, neurological, psychiatric and cardiac changes) - diseases caused by bacteria; and babesiosis, a disease caused by protozoa and causing interspersed fevers, anemia, intestinal problems, tiredness, body pain, headache, and chills.
Preventive measures:
1- Treat the affected animal:
- application of neutral greases, oils or glycerin (they will suffocate these animals), making them detach easily.
- application of baths in the form of immersion or spraying of ticks in more severe cases.
2- In tick-infested areas:
- avoid sitting on the ground and exposing unprotected body parts to vegetation.
- wear long-sleeved pants and shirts, preferably of a light color (for better visualization of the possible presence of these individuals)
- permethrin or deltamethrin based clothing repellants
- secure the trousers to the boots with adhesive tape.
- examine the body for ticks and carefully remove them with the help of tweezers or gloves.
By Mariana Araguaia
Graduated in Biology
