The ticks follow white-tailed deer populations, and warmer winters and multiplying deer populations likely allowed the tick to spread through the country.
Ticks are small arachnids known for their blood-feeding behavior, and they belong to the subclass Acari. They are ectoparasites, meaning they feed on the blood of a wide variety of hosts, including mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles. Ticks are important vectors of various diseases, and they are found throughout the world.
There are hundreds of tick species in the world, and about 10 percent of these species are found in the United States.
The Asian long-horned tick — Haemaphysalis longicornis — “is a tick indigenous to Asia, where it is an important vector of human and animal disease agents,” warned a research team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
