Tick Bombs! Exploding Population of Asian Longhorned Ticks

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…