Tick (likely a hard tick)

Leaf litter, tall grass, shrubs, and wooded or brushy habitats, where it climbs vegetation and attaches to passing hosts.

Feeds exclusively on blood from mammals, birds, or reptiles; each life stage usually takes one substantial blood meal.

Questing ticks hold their forelegs out to detect heat, odors, and vibration, then latch onto hosts. They develop through larva, nymph, and adult stages, often over one to three years.

Some species transmit pathogens, including Lyme disease bacteria, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and tick-borne encephalitis viruses. They also serve as food for predators and contribute to ecosystem food webs; remove attached ticks promptly with fine-tipped tweezers.