Dr. Stafford Tick Management Handbook - Newtown, CT

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StaffordThe Connecticut Agricultural Experimentation Station• Pathogen: the microorganism (i.e., virus, bacteria, rickettsia, protozoa, fungus) that maycause disease.• Parasite: An animal that lives in or on a host for at least part of their life and bene. tsfrom the association at the expense of the host (from the Greek, literally para - besideand sitos - food).• Vector: An insect or other arthropod, like a tick, that carries and transmits a diseasepathogen. Diseases associated with pathogens transmitted by a vector are called vectorbornediseases.• Host: An animal infected by a pathogen or infested with a parasite.• Reservoir: An animal host that is capable of maintaining a pathogen and serving as asource of infection.• Zoonoses: A disease caused by a pathogen that is maintained in vertebrate animals thatcan be transmitted naturally to humans or domestic animals by a vector or through othermeans (e.g. saliva, feces).• Endemic disease: A disease that is established and present more or less continuously in acommunity.Tick Biology and BehaviorTicks, like many mite species, are obligate blood-feeders, requiring a host animal for foodand development. Ticks have four stages in their life cycle: egg, the 6-legged larva (seed ticks),and 8-legged nymph and adult (male or female). Larvae and nymphs change to the next stageafter digesting a blood meal by molting or shedding the cuticle. Most of the ticks mentioned inthis handbook have a 3-host life cycle, whereas each of the three active stages feed on a differentindividual host animal, taking a single blood meal. Larvae feed to repletion on one animal, dropto the ground and molt to a nymph. The nymphs must . nd and attach to another animal, engorge,drop to ground and molt to an adult. The adult tick feeds on a third animal. A replete or engorged(blood . lled) female tick will produce a single large batch of eggs and then die. Depending upon thespecies of tick, egg mass deposited can range roughly from 1,000 to 18,000 eggs.3-host tick life cycle84Bulletin No. 1010
Stafford9101112The Connecticut Agricultural Experimentation StationThe larvae and nymphs generally feed on small tomedium-sized hosts, while adult ticks feed on largeranimals. Some ticks may have one-host (all stages stayingand feeding on only one animal host before the femaledrops off) or other multi-host lifecycles. Depending uponthe tick, the life cycle may be completed in 1, 2 or even3 years, while a one-host tick may have more than onegeneration per year. Feeding for only a few days, themajority of the life of a tick is spent off the host in theenvironment either seeking a host, molting or simplypassing through an inhospitable season (e.g., hot summersor cold winters). Soft ticks have a multi-host life cyclewith multiple nymphal stages; each stage feeds brie. y,and adults take multiple small blood meals, laying smallegg batches after each feeding. As nest and cave dwellers,often with transient hosts, some argasid ticks may survivemany years without a host. However, most hard ticks donot successfully . nd a host and perish within months or ayear or two at best.Larval ticks will be clustered on the egg mass afterhatching and when ready to feed, ascend blades of grassor similar vegetation to await a host. Ticks assume aquesting position by clinging to the leaf litter or vegetationwith the third and fourth pair of legs, and hold the . rstpair outstretched. Due to differences in susceptibility todesiccation and host preference, immature ticks generallyremain in the low vegetation, while adult ticks may seek ahost at a higher level in the vegetation. Ticks detect theirhosts through several host odors (including carbon dioxide,ammonia, lactic acid, and other speci. c body odors), bodyheat, moisture, vibrations, and for some, visual cues likea shadow. When approached by a potential host, a tickbecomes excited - waving the front legs in order to grabthe passing host. Ticks cannot . y or jump; they must makedirect contact with a host. Once on a host a tick may attachquickly or wander over the host for some time. Some ticksattach only or principally on certain areas like the ear orthin-skinned areas, while other species may attach almostanywhere on the host. The ticks feed slowly, remainingon the host for several days, until engorged with blood(see following section on tick feeding). Male ticks feedintermittently, take small blood meals, and may remain ona host for weeks. For most ticks mating occurs on the host,as the male tick also requires a blood meal. However, maleIxodes ticks do not need to feed prior to mating and matingmay occur on or off the host.Bulletin No. 1010 5
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About the AuthorDr. Kirby Stafford
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Dr. Stafford Tick Management Handbook - Newtown, CT

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