Pest Gallery
Ticks: Acarina
Ticks are the largest and most conspicuous member of the order Acarina, and are practically the only members of the order which can be identified without the aid of a microscope. They differ from mites in a number of external body features. The most easily seen features are the spiracular plates which surround the external openings of the respiratory system.
All ticks feed exclusively on the blood of vertebrates. They have four stages in their life cycles: egg, larvae, nymph, and adult. Mating usually occurs while the adult ticks are on the body of the host animal. The female then drops to the ground and deposits her eggs. Adult female hard ticks feed only once and lay one large batch of eggs, often containing as many as 10,000 or more. Adult female soft ticks will feed several times and lay 20 to 50 eggs after each meal. Depending on conditions and temperature, the larvae will hatch from the eggs in two weeks to several months.
The first immature stage larvae have only six legs. These larvae must find and attach themselves to a host in order to get a blood meal. After obtaining this blood meal they usually drop to the ground, shed their skin, and emerge as 8-legged nymphs. Like the larvae, the nymph will find a host, have a blood meal, then molt and become an adult.
Adult ticks may require several days of feeding before they are able to reproduce. Male hard ticks usually die soon after mating, and females die soon after laying their eggs. Most ticks spend the bulk of their life on or near the ground, waiting for a suitable host animal. Since they cannot run, hop, fly, or move quickly, ticks must climb onto an appropriate object such as tall grass or weeks, or up onto fences and siding of buildings, to then wait for a suitable host to pass by.
Mites: Acarina
The order Acarina consist of a very large number of species, most of which are very tiny. Mites have no antennae, and their head and thorax are fused into a single region called the cephalothroax. Their mouthparts are grouped together at the front of the body in a sort of “false head” ,known as the capitulum
Most mites are so small that they are barely visible to the naked eye. Some mites have eyes, but many are blind. They all have bristles and hairs on their bodies that they use to sense their environment. Unlike spiders and most other arachnids, the bodies of mites and ticks are not divided into sections. The only other group of arachnids with bodies like this are the harvestmen, but they are much larger and have much longer legs. Most mites are brown, but some groups are partly red or yellow, and some water mites are blue, green, or even purple.
Like all arachnids, most mites have eight legs. On the front of the body they have two sets of mouthparts. The outside set are called palps, and they are similar to the pedipalps in spiders, They look like tiny short legs, and are used for sensing things and grabbing prey. Between the palps are the mouthparts, called “chelicera.” Different groups of mites have different kinds of mouthparts: some are sharp tubes for stabbing and sucking, some are pincers for grabbing and cutting, some are like combs for filtering little particles of food.
