What Is This Insect? A Parent Found It Attached to Her Son’s Head — And Here’s Why It Shouldn’t Be Ignored

Finding an unusual insect attached to your child’s scalp can be an alarming experience, especially when it appears swollen and firmly attached to the skin. The image above shows what appears to be an engorged tick, along with the area of the scalp where it had attached.

Ticks are not actually insects. They are arachnids, related to spiders and mites. They survive by feeding on the blood of animals and humans, and they can attach to the skin for an extended period while feeding.

Although seeing one can be frightening, knowing what to do next is much more important than panicking.

What Is the Insect in the Picture?

Based on its body shape, eight legs, and enlarged oval abdomen, the creature shown in the image is consistent with a tick that has been feeding and become engorged.

Ticks can look very different depending on their species and whether they have recently fed. A tick that has not fed may be quite small and flat. After attaching to a host and consuming blood, its abdomen can expand dramatically, making it appear much larger and rounded.

This is one reason people sometimes mistake ticks for other insects.

Ticks have eight legs, while insects have six.

There are numerous tick species around the world, and the exact species cannot reliably be determined from a single photograph alone. Some species can transmit pathogens that cause diseases, while others may not pose the same risks.

That is why the discovery of a tick should be taken seriously without automatically assuming that an infection has occurred.

How Does a Tick End Up on the Scalp?

Ticks generally do not jump or fly.

Instead, they often climb onto vegetation such as grass, shrubs, or low branches and wait for an animal or person to brush against them. This behavior is sometimes called questing.