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Help identify insect.
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:29 am
by materxxdxa
Attached is a photo of an insect that attached itself
To my leg this morning in Nigeria abuja.
Re: Help identify insect.
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:48 am
by adamcotton
This is some type of tick or mite, not an insect but an arachnid (related to spiders, scorpions etc.).
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mite
Adam.
Re: Help identify insect.
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2023 2:28 pm
by livingplanet3
materxxdxa wrote: Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:29 am
Attached is a photo of an insect that attached itself
To my leg this morning in Nigeria abuja...
It's a tropical bont tick (Amblyomma variegatum) -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyomma_variegatum
This tick sometimes transmits a disease to humans called
African tick bite fever, but even without treatment, the disease is typically resolves within several weeks -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_tick_bite_fever
If symptoms do develop, treatment with the antibiotic doxycycline is effective against the causative bacterium (Rickettsia africae), and will speed recovery.