When a tick bites, it does more than just stick you with the pointy end. Here’s what happens, in far more detail than you ever cared to know.

It’s their job is to protect the feeding structures until the tick is ready to dine, at which point they rotate off to the side revealing the chelicerae, which look all the world like a pair of ...

In spiders, the chelicerae are hollow, poison-injecting fangs, but that’s not at all how tick chelicerae work. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

With the tips of the chelicerae anchored in the skin, flexing them outward causes them to penetrate even deeper. When this occurs, the tick’s hypostome —a razor-sharp, even-more-heavily-barbed ...

In spiders, the chelicerae are hollow, poison-injecting fangs but that’s not at all how tick chelicerae work. Worldwide, there are some 900 species of ticks, about 700 of which are the “hard ...

Then the chelicerae switch to a breaststroke motion that draws in the barbed tonguelike needle, or hypostome (center).

As temperatures rise, ticks of several kinds are flourishing in ways that threaten people’s health.

Ticks jackhammer their way into the skin These are the palps. It’s their job is to protect the feeding structures until the tick is ready to dine, at which point they rotate off to the side revealing ...

With the tips of the chelicerae anchored in the skin, flexing them outward causes them to penetrate even deeper. When this occurs, the tick’s hypostome —a razor-sharp, even-more-heavily-barbed ...

It’s their job is to protect the feeding structures until the tick is ready to dine, at which point they rotate off to the side revealing the chelicerae, which look all the world like a pair of ...