All About Ticks

This section will help you understand what ticks are, what some common ticks look like, where they are found and why you need to watch out for them.

Overview

Ticks are arthropods belonging to the arachnid family the same as spiders.

At each stage of the tick lifecycle, ticks shed their exoskeleton and evolve. After eggs, microscopic Larvae ticks then develop and start out with 6 legs. As they feed off small animals, they grow and morph into tiny poppy seed size Nymph ticks around the size of a sesame seed. Then continuing to feed off ever-larger animals to coffee bean size Adult ticks. Both Nymph and adult ticks now have 8 legs.

They are not classified as insects as they feed on blood so are parasites. There are 2 basic types, soft and hard ticks and they have no spine so are invertebrates. They range in size from 0.5 mm to 15 mm fully fed in the adult stage.

As of 2010, there are over 75 species in Australia and 896 worldwide identified so far. The first research on ticks has been reported in 1884 in Australia.

There are 4 main types. Paralysis, Bush, Cattle and Brown Dog tick in Australia. 16 species may feed on domestic animals and humans with 11 hard ticks the most common feeders on humans and 5 are soft ticks.

The female paralysis tick (Ixodes Holocyclus) is the main disease-carrying tick and the biggest danger to humans and animals in Australia, though other ticks can bite and infect animals, pets and humans.

Most ticks are located on the outer eastern and northeastern seaboard of Australia with some in the western seaboard. They prefer warmer humid grassy and leafy areas, but with climate change, they are extending their usual locations found. The areas in the maps are the hot spots, but they are present in most areas of Australia. See Maps.

What are ticks?

Ticks are blood-sucking parasites, natures little vampires or dirty little needles because of the diseases they can carry and transfer to humans and animals. They are part of the arthropod family of animals and are arachnids, like spiders or mites. The adult and nymph tick has 8 legs but the tiny larvae tick has 6 legs.

This is an example of how ticks are classed in the animal kingdom.

Arthropoda (a phylum) = crustaceans, insects, ticks, mites, spiders and kin Arachnida (a class) = ticks, mites, spiders, scorpions and kin
Acari (an order) = ticks and mites Ixodida (a sub-order) = ticks
Argasidae (a family) = soft ticks Argas (a genus)
Argas robertsi (a species; Robert’s bird tick) Ixodidae (a family) = hard ticks
Rhipicephalus (a genus)
Rhipicephalus australis (a species; Australian cattle tick)

From Ticks in Australia 2014.

Tick comparison sizes ranging from Larvae at 0.5 mm to Nymph at 1-1.5 mm to fully fed female at about 15 mm.

If you want to be a bit geeky and technical this is a diagram and information about all their parts.

Ticks are in 2 parts. The mouthparts (or mouthpiece) and the body.

The body of ticks includes the eyes, legs, and respiratory, digestive and reproductive structures. Not all tick species have eyes and these ticks use other methods to find blood hosts.

The mouthparts (capitulum) have 3 specialised parts. Palps, chelicerae and hypostome. The palps are leg-like and have a sensory function. The chelicerae are the cutting parts that dig into your skin creating a hole for the hypostome to extend inside and then using saw-like edges or spines attach to keep it connected while it feeds. Some secrete a cement containing several hundred proteins to also help it stay attached and they also inject an anaesthetic so you do not feel a tick attaching or often feeding. Some tick saliva can already be carrying toxins that can paralyse or give an anaphylactic reaction to an animal or human.

By Sonenshine, DE: Biology of Ticks, 2 volumes: Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford, 1991 – Sonenshine, DE: Biology of Ticks, 2 volumes: Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford, 1991, CC BY 3.0, Click here

This is the female paralysis tick (Ixodes Holocyclus). This does need a cement as the hypostome is quite long in comparison to other tick species.

How big are ticks?

Ticks are relatively tiny and can vary in size from the microscopic larva tick, barely seen with the naked eye, to the tiny nymph ticks that are the size of a poppy seed. Unfed adult ticks are the size of a sesame seed but when fully grown and well-fed after a blood meal, can be fat critters that are the size of and look like coffee beans.

Male ticks are usually smaller than female ticks, with sizes varying from 0.5 mm to about 5 mm depending on what life cycle they are at or if they are fully fed. After a blood meal, they can grow up to about 15 mm.

The CDC in the USA published this image on Twitter and caused quite a storm when people were grossed out that ticks were replaced as poppyseeds on this muffin. That’s how small they can be.

What is the tick’s lifecycle?

Ticks have a 2 to 3 year lifecycle depending on the variety and form. They mature from eggs, to larva, to nymph to tick and back to eggs.

Eggs
They start as eggs. (or is it a tick? It’s a chicken and egg situation) In fact a female tick can lay as many as 1500 to 3000 eggs at a time. They look pretty yucky to us but to their mum, they are all beautiful.

Larva
The next stage are larvae ticks (or seed or grass ticks) which are about 0.5 mm in size. They emerge from the egg and start seeking out their first blood meal which is usually small rodents like mice.

Nymph
They then grow into a nymph about 1.5 mm or the size of a poppy seed and continue to feed off any animal that walks by. As they grow the size of the animal they feed off may grow as well.

Adult
Unfed adult ticks range in size from 3 to 5 mm. The males are slightly smaller. It is female ticks that need to rapidly feed and they can expand to the size of a coffee bean so maybe 10 to 15 mm in size. Unfed nymph and even adult ticks being so small are why people often miss seeing and being bitten by them.

The lifecycle of an Australian tick. Courtesy Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lifecycle.gif

How long do they live?

They have generally a 3-year life cycle and can feed off their hosts till full then fall off. They can feed like cattle ticks off have one main host, cattle. But many can move from one animal to another feeding off and picking up whatever diseases that’s in the animal’s blood as they go.

How many varieties of ticks are there?

There are 75 species in Australia and over 896 worldwide identified so as of 2010 records (Guglielmone et al. 2010)

Can ticks fly?

Nope, they don’t have wings and they don’t drop from trees and attack either.

What do they eat and where do they live?

Ticks are parasites so they don’t really “eat you” but more accurately ‘suck your blood” like little vampires. Initially to find their food, they climb onto single grass stems to a maximum waist high and wave their forelegs around (called “questing”) a bit like saying “hello I am going to feed off you”. They can sense heat, movement and carbon dioxide to pinpoint a host as they walk past, while the mostly blind tick (as only a few species have eyes) lay in wait on the grass stems.

They love wet warm climates and grassy areas and leaves. They love living in most of the Australian bush in the damp, humid, warm leaves, grasses and stumps. They lay in wait like stealthy ninjas for a meal, say a bandicoot or echidna has been found (called their host) and latch on as the host walks by. Then they wander all over their host to find a nice spot and attach with their saw-like mouthpiece, then inject an anaesthetic and many produce a sticky cement substance to remain attached.

They will suck almost any animal that has blood. In Australia, this can mean many of our native animals like kangaroos, bandicoots, birds, possums, echidnas and reptiles like snakes and lizards. Ticks are a big concern to our livestock industry as well. Of course, you need to be careful with your family dog and cat too. Plus of course, they are not fussy and will seek you out as well.

How long have ticks lived on earth?

Ticks have been around for millions of years and have been found in fossilised amber such as Burmese amber, estimated to be 99 million years old. But they may have lived as long as 362 – 409 million years ago. Try checking your ancestry if you are a tick!

How far do they travel?

Ticks can’t travel far themselves but they can travel long distances when they attach and hitch a ride to any blood host and feed. (Ok, so yes they can fly when attached to a bird, you smarties reading this)

Ticks can be transported across oceans if they remain attached to migrating birds so it is very possible that new species can end up in areas never found before. I don’t think we make GPS trackers small enough to find out but new species of ticks are turning up in all sorts of countries never thought possible before. Many believe climate change adds to this probability.
Karen Smith research click here

A tick trapped in amber and entangled in a feather that might well have belonged to a dinosaur. Credit: Enrique Peñalver (IGME, Spain)

Do all ticks bite?

All ticks have to have a blood meal to survive, so yes all ticks can more than bite. They attach on to their host to suck blood and feed. But not all ticks like humans as their host and prefer our native and livestock animals and also our furry pets too. If left to feed, hundreds can attach to one animal and suck all the blood out, eventually killing their host. That’s why there are tick gates and prevention methods used against ticks for many of our livestock animals.

This poor snake from Qld Gold Coast found in a pool had a bad time with ticks. But all is well as he was saved by lovely vets up there.

Do all ticks carry disease?

In short no. The paralysis tick is the most likely and hence the most dangerous to humans. As the name suggests it can paralyse its host by the toxins in its saliva. Our furry friends can get paralysed and end up not being able to walk after being bitten. These ticks can also cause severe allergic reactions to humans and even anaphylaxis, so you need to seek immediate help if this occurs. Humans can also get a condition called Alpha-gal syndrome or allergy or Tick Meat Allergy. This is an allergy to meat and animal products. Some people will have to avoid certain red meat products after a bite to avoid getting a severe allergy reaction.

It is also possible ticks can carry many other infections such as Rickettsia and rarer, Q Fever. Plus as yet to be proven, other types of Borrelia or Lyme-like infections. These infections can affect humans and animals as well. Though rare, dogs, cats and other domestic animals can get Lyme or a Lyme-like and other diseases, however unlike humans they can be treated and prevention methods and even vaccines are available.

Out of all the ticks, the main one humans need to be concerned about is the female paralysis tick. But further research is needed to see if other species are harmful to humans and spread deadly diseases.

YOU ARE REALLY PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH TICKS AS WE DO NOT KNOW FULLY ALL THE MICROORGANISMS FROM BACTERIA, VIRUSES AND EVEN PARASITES AUSTRALIAN TICKS CAN CARRY.

Where are ticks in Australia?

They are found in mainly wet forest and bush areas in grasses, ground leaves and fallen trees mostly in the eastern seaboard of Australia. The paralysis tick is mostly around the seabord areas. Though you can find different species near other seaboards and as this map shows many other tick varieties are found almost anywhere in Australia.

Map of recent research showing biting ticks in nearly every part of Australia