![]() Unfed adult females are about 1/8 inch long, but expand to about 3/8 inch long when fully engorged. Their legs are black or dark colored which is why they have the common name blacklegged ticks. Both species have a reddish-orange colored abdomen and their scutum is black or dark brown. In fact, the larval and nymph stages are so small, they are often overlooked when attached to a person or their pets. They are very small and are somewhat smaller than most other species of hard ticks. Blacklegged Tick(Ixodes scapularis) & The Western Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes pacificus)ĭeer ticks are the transmitters of Lyme disease. Tick abundance varies by location and environmental conditions however, generally the most abundant ticks are the blacklegged ticks, the lone star ticks and the American dog ticks. ![]() An engorged female hard tick may appear swollen, grayish-colored and about the size of a small to medium sized lima bean. When fully-engorged, hard ticks typically increase in size to become close to twice the size of an unfed tick adult. When ticks are engorged with blood from their host, they increase in size as they consume more blood. Generally, male ticks are smaller than the females.īoth male and female ticks consume a blood meal. The tick's two pair of front legs curve toward the head, while the two sets of hind legs curve toward the abdomen. The tick’s head is very small compared to its abdomen, so much so that oftentimes they are described as looking like a body with six or eight curved legs. The tick consists of two parts: a head and an abdomen. Tick nymphs are about the size of the head of a pin and the larvae are about the size of a poppy seed. While there is “no ONE SIZE FITS ALL” description, adults are about ¼-3/8 inch long (about the size of a freckle). Hard ticks go through four life stages during their life cycle: eggs, larvae (six-legged), nymphs (eight-legged) and adults (eight-legged). Soft ticks are not as frequently encountered by people because they live in rodent burrows, caves and in hidden away, protective places that bats and rodents inhabit. A simple description of soft ticks is they look like a small, symmetrical bean with legs. Soft ticks have a leathery body, are more oblong and “fatter” than hard ticks, and their mouthparts are not visible when viewed from above. Their appearance is much different than the hard ticks. Most ticks that people come into contact with are hard ticks that have a hardened, shield on their backs called the scutum and their mouthparts are visible when viewed from above the tick.
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