Ticks are blood feeding external parasites of mammals, birds, and reptiles throughout the world.
Both are important vectors of disease causing agents to humans and animals throughout the world. Ticks transmit the widest variety of pathogens of any blood sucking arthropod, including bacteria, rickettsiae, protozoa, and viruses. Family Ixodidae Hard ticks have three distinct life stages. Larvae which emerge from the egg have six legs. After obtaining a blood meal from a vertebrate host, they molt to the nymphal stage and acquire eight legs.