Chigger (Larval stage)

Tall grass, weeds, berry patches, and woodland edges with high humidity.

Larvae feed on skin cells and lymph of host animals (including humans); adults eat plant material and insect eggs.

Larvae wait on vegetation to crawl onto a host, then use enzymes to dissolve skin cells for feeding; they do not burrow but attach to the surface or hair follicles.

Causes intense itching and red welts (trombiculosis) in humans; while not common vectors of disease in the US, some species in Asia transmit scrub typhus.