Asian longhorned tick dorsal (top), from Wikimedia

13 October 2026

This morning the Post-Gazette highlighted a story by Mary Ann Thomas about a new tick in town whose method of reproduction explodes like a bomb. In late summer and early fall, each cluster of Asian longhorned eggs hatches 2000 nymphs that swarm on the nearest warm-blooded animal — cattle, deer, dogs, and you! (See Post-Gazette: As longhorned tick populations soar in Allegheny County, ‘larval bombs’ surprise residents.)

I first learned about this from Bob Mulvihill when he wrote on Facebook on 16 September:

The tick bomb provided clues to its identity –> a new invasive species called the Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) that is native to temperate areas of East and Central Asia (China, Korea, and Japan), Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific islands. This species was unknown in the mainland U.S. until first seen in Hunterdon County, NJ in November 2017. And now they are here in western Pennsylvania.

As usual these ticks are tiny compared to a dime. Top view is shown below.

Comparing the Asian longhorned nymph and adult to a dime (CDC) and a photo of a dime (Wikimedia)

Here’s the belly of the beast.

Ventral (belly) view of Asian longhorned tick (photo from Wikimedia)

Being ticks, they require a blood meal to reproduce and to advance from stage to stage. Interestingly they are normally red-brown but turn gray when engorged with blood. An engorged female is shown below.

Engorged Asian longhorned tick (photo from Wikimedia)

Amazingly …

The tick can reproduce sexually or by an asexual process called parthenogenesis. [Each egg is a clone of its mother.] … Unfed ticks can survive for close to a year, nymphs and adult females the longest, depending on temperature and humidity.

Find out more in this video from WNEP TV.

And remember, don’t go into tall grass/weeds unless you are totally prepared for a tick bomb.