Male and female ticks and eggs. The male and female ticks are on the skin of a mammal, feeding on the blood of their host. The female tick swells while ingesting a blood meal. After mating, the female tick lays hundreds to thousands of eggs. The life stages of a tick are: egg, larva, nymph and adult. Ticks (superfamily: Ixodoidea) are small arachnids. They are ectoparasites, feeding on the blood of mammals (including humans), birds, and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Ticks transmit several diseases, including Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever, and relapsing fever. |