Forum Entomologi Italiani

Today the weather was nice here so I was out for collecting insects, of course ....I found the first lizard for 2012, and for the first time I saw a tick ( ) on it ! Any idea what can be and if they are dangerous for people?

If someone is interested, I have the specimen in alcohol

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alexandrupintilioaie(AT)gmail.com

Alexaandru, is that a Lacerta agilis?

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Augusto (aug)
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future (Niels Bohr, fisico)

yes, a small specimen

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alexandrupintilioaie(AT)gmail.com

I think a "zecca" . : Arachnida. Ordine Acarina.
can sometimes be dangerous for people.

Hi Alexandru. My knowledge of Ixodida is scarce (expecially those of Romania), anyway this seems to be a member of Family Ixodidae, which in your Country should count six species. Ticks go trough two or three mutae (depending on the species) before reaching adulthood and for each muta they need a meal of blood. The tick waits for the suitable host to pass by... and, even within the same species, the host is different for every stage of development. In the first stage the nymph searchs for small animals such as birds, micro-mammals and lizards. So it's not so strange to find a tick on a lizard. After a few days the baby tick leaves his host, accomplishes its muta, and settles waiting for a new (bigger) host to come.

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Maura
(Mitakuye oyasin)