How big is a tick?
How big is a tick?
Ticks are as small as a pinhead and therefore difficult to recognize. The tick starts as a larva and is then only 1 mm in size. Male ticks usually grow to 3 mm in size. Females are the largest, about 4 mm.
There are a total of 820 different species of ticks identified in the world, of which 100 are capable of transmitting bacteria to humans. In the Netherlands, the Ixodes Ricinus is by far the most common tick. This tick is known for transmitting Lyme disease.
Life cycle of a tick
A tick emerges from an egg. The creature starts as a larva, grows into a nymph and is then called an adult tick. The striking thing is that a tick in the larval stage only has six legs. In the nymph and adult stage, the tick has eight legs. The tick changes from one stage to the next by molting. The tick then sheds its old skeleton and develops a new one that fits the new body structure. The entire life cycle of a tick usually takes two years, depending on the amount of food the tick has at its disposal.
How do you recognize a tick?
A tick looks like an insect, but actually belongs to the arachnids. Ticks are very small and can be recognized by the number of legs. Adult ticks have eight legs, larval ticks have only six legs. A big difference between ticks and insects is that insects have wings and antennae, ticks do not.