The Argas brumpti, a species of African tick, is hard to beat when it comes to longevity and surviving extended amounts of time without food.
Some of the ticks that were observed in the lab over the course of 45 years have lived as long as 27 years.
Even though some of the arachnids have evolved to live without food or drink, they were able to survive eight years without it.
Four years after the death of the last male tick in the group, one of the female ticks laid eggs. It is most likely that the female is able to store male sperm for a longer period of time than normal.
The longevity of these ticks is apparently a record for any species of tick, according to Shepherd.
The delay in reproduction likely represents long-term storage of viable sperm, a record for any species of tick.
The original ticks were a gift to Shepherd in 1976, and he set them up for observation in his lab under stable conditions. The offspring of the original group are reproducing today.
The last original male tick died halfway through the eight-year fast after the food source ran out in 1984.
Shepherd says that he is enthralled by the adaptation of organisms to their environment.
The brumpti are large for ticks, measuring up to 20 millimeters long. Traditionally, they hang out in burrows, dust baths or mounds looking for other animals to snack on.
They are not the cause of any known diseases. The soft and leathery skin of these creatures is not the same as the hard plates found in more commonly known species of ticks.
The offspring of the original ticks are headed to South Africa to help with genetic research.
Research on how organisms master challenges can inform understanding of how other organisms might do the same.
The Journal of Medical Entomology has a paper by Shepherd.
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