They are vividly coloured (especially the males) and have a substantial impact on livestock, primarily through their transmission of diseases.
They are three-host hard ticks (where each life stage completes a blood meal on a particular host before dropping off and ecdysis) that have been found on a variety of domesticated species such as camels, cattle, goats, sheep, dogs, and various species of wildlife.
[2] Kelly et al. 2014 obtained good results using livestock tags impregnated with an attraction-aggregation-attachment pheromone and acaricide.
[2] Their method shows promise for use elsewhere, if the problem of thick vegetation accidentally rubbing off the tags can be resolved.
[2] Maranga et al. 2003 uses a AAA pheromone very differently, combined with CO2 in a site on the ground instead of on a host.