Figure 4.

One-host life cycle evolved by cattle fever ticks that comprises an on-host phase where larvae and nymphs sequentially blood feed and molt, and adults feed and mate, and an off-host phase in which mated engorged females drop from the host, oviposit, and die. Larvae hatching from the eggs initiate the next generation. In the absence of hosts, the off-host phase may constitute 87–93% of the life cycle’s duration. Used by permission (Teel et al., 2011; http://tickapp.tamu.edu).