Scientists have discovered the presence of several giant, tropical ticks with striped legs in Germany. They can carry some nasty diseases and researchers worry they are here to stay.
Image: picture-alliance/Institut für Mikrobiologie der Bundeswehr/L. Chitimia-Dobler
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German researchers have discovered several tropical ticks living in the country and are worried by their presence.
Scientists registered a total of seven specimens of the genus Hyalomma in Lower Saxony and Hesse this year, the University of Hohenheim and the Institute for Microbiology of the German Federal Armed Forces in Munich announced on Tuesday.
Only two tropical ticks have been found in Germany before, one in 2015 and one in 2017.
The researchers fear that the ticks may become a permanent feature in Germany as temperatures rise. Their presence was put down to the hot, dry summer in Germany, as they prefer a lower humidity than the ticks usually found in this country.
They're small, robust and dreaded by young and old: ticks put a dampener on summer fun, and not only for humans. Animals have developed creative ways to deal with the parasite. Don't try their methods at home.
Beware of ticks!
There are approximately 900 tick species across the world. The eight-legged crawlies are not insects, but rather belong to the Acari, which also include mites. They live in shrubs or grass and are just waiting for a bloody meal to walk past. The most common tick in Germany is the castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus).
Image: zecken.de
Sting and suck
Ticks use their front legs and mouths to dig into their victim's skin. They pick spots where the skin is especially thin and the capillaries are right under the surface. The main part of their diet is not blood, however, but lymph, which leaks from the wound.
Image: picture-alliance/OKAPIA KG, Germany
Tick saliva with healing powers?
Many ticks transfer bacteria or viruses that can lead to serious illnesses. If you get bitten by a tick in Germany, you could contract Lyme disease or Encephalitis. But the small animals can also do good. Oxford researchers have recently found out that a protein from the tick's saliva can block infections, which makes it a potential cure for a certain type of heart disease.
Despite this discovery, ticks are still overwhelmingly negative. Elks, for example, suffer an increased number of ticks because of shorter and warmer winters in the eastern US. Last winter, 70 percent of elk calves there died - because they were sucked empty by ticks, according to researchers at the University of New Hampshire.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Cole
Anti-parasite symbiosis
In Africa, birds and mammals work together to get rid of ticks. This yellow-billed oxpecker (Buphagus africanus) is eating the ticks off a warthog. It's a win-win: the warthog gets rid of the bloodsuckers and the bird gets a delicious meal.
Image: picture-alliance/WILDLIFE
Tobacco to turn off ticks
Birds get ticks, too. The house finch has developed a strategy to fight ticks. A study in the Avian Biology journal has shown that breeding house finches use cigarette stubs to "proof" their nests. The nicotine wards off parasites, but sadly the neurotoxin can also have negative effects on the chicks.
Image: picture-alliance/All Canada Photos
Little hope of improvement
There's currently no plan for getting rid of the ticks for good, and it wouldn't be an easy task either. The little parasites are quite robust and can survive a cycle in the washing machine as well as time in the freezer. If you have a tick bite, make sure your encephalitis vaccination is up-to-date.
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Five times bigger
The Hyalomma ticks can grow to as long as two centimeters (0.8 inches), substantially larger than the local common wood tick (Ixodes ricinus). They can be recognized by their unusual size and their striped legs.
The ticks were all found on farm animals, mainly horses. This is because horse owners tend to come into close contact with their animals when grooming them.
One specimen contained a dangerous bacterium, a known pathogen of tick-borne fever. Hyalomma species can also carry Crimean Congo fever, which has not yet occurred in Germany.
The tropical ticks found this year belong to the species Hyalomma marginatum and Hyalomma rufipes. They were probably introduced via migratory birds.
Tick alert!
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Expect more bites
Experts have warned people to expect more tick bite diseases this year, with a mild winter, warm spring, and hot summer providing good breeding conditions.
Clothing and tick repellents are the only effective preventative measures against ticks.
From butterflies with immense wingspans to creepy crawlies with the longest legs of their kind, here are some of the largest insects in the animal kingdom.
Image: picture-alliance/Bruce Colem/A. Blank
Macrodontia cervicornis
This beetle can measure up to 17cm in length, in part thanks to its enormous mandibles - the pair of appendages near its mouth. Also known as the 'sabertooth longhorn beetle' this insect dwells in the rainforests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the Guianas and Brazil.
Image: picture-alliance/AFP Creative/J. Saget
Giant weta
There are 11 species of the giant weta in the world, and the largest can be up to 10cm in length - not including their spindly legs or long antennae. They're also known to be rather heavy - with one example recording 70g. The beetles are unique to New Zealand, and all but one species are considered endangered.
Image: picture-alliance/WILDLIFE/M. Carwadine
Goliath beetle
Among the largest insects on earth, the Goliath beetle can measure up to 11cm and weigh 100 grams in the larval stage (although adults are around half this weight). There are five species of Goliath beetle. They're found in tropical rainforests in Africa, where they mainly eat tree sap and fruit.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/B. Trapp
Queen Alexandra's birdwing
This butterfly is the largest in the world, with females' wingspans reaching just over 25cm. An endangered species, it is restricted to about 100km of coastal rainforest in the Oro Province in eastern Papua New Guinea. The species was named in 1907 in honor of Alexandra of Denmark.
Image: Mark Joy
Tarantula hawk wasp
This is what's known as a 'spider wasp' because - yep, you guessed it - it hunts tarantula spiders. They use their sting - one of the most painful insect stings in the world - to paralyze their prey before hauling it to their nest, where they lay a single egg on the victim, which when it hatches to a larva eats the prey alive. At about 5cm long, it's one of the largest wasps in the animal kingdom.
Image: picture-alliance/Mary Evans Picture Library/K. Lucas
Atlas beetle
This is a species of rhinoceros beetle, known for its feisty behavior. Named after Atlas, a Titan condemned to hold up the sky for eternity in Greek mythology, the male beetles can reach up to 13cm in length. They're found in southern Asia, particularly Indonesia.
The giant water bug encompasses a large species of carnivorous freshwater insects, which includes the 'Lethocerus' that can grow to more than 12cm in length. Their large foreleg pincers are used to catch underwater prey like small fish and frogs. In some places they're known as 'toe biters' because of their tendency to deliver a painful nip when disturbed by swimmers that get too close.
Image: picture-alliance /Bruce Colem/J. Dermit
Atlas moth
This insect may have a tiny body, but it's wingspan measures a whopping 25-30cm, and it has a wing surface area of about 400cm squared. It lives in dry rainforests and shrublands throughout South Asia, South East Asia, and East Asia. It doesn't eat - it's only purpose as an adult is to find a mate, which takes around two weeks. Once they breed and the females lay eggs, they die.
Image: picture-alliance/chromorange/C. Wojtkowski
Praying mantis
This exquisite insect is usually between 1.5cm and 16cm long, but can reach lengths of up to 20cm. They are carnivorous and feed mainly on other insects, although females sometimes eat their mate just after, or even during, mating. Formidable predators, the praying mantis can turn its head 180 degrees to observe its surroundings with all five of its eyes.
Image: picture-alliance/Bruce Colem/A. Blank
Phryganistria chinensis Zhao
Only officially discovered in 2016, the only recorded spotting of this superbly long stick insect measured it at 62.4cm. Found in the Guangxi Zhuang region of China by Zhao Li, of the Insect Museum of West China, it's the longest insect in the world. Li brought it back to the museum where it laid six eggs - after hatching, even the smallest offspring measured 26cm.