In this life cycle, only the larva is parasitic. Larvae in soil climb onto hosts, or climb onto vegetation and then attach to host mammals. the larva feeds on tissue fluids, engorges on these, and then drops off the host. the larva enters the soil, and emerges from the molt as a deutonymph. (The protonymph stage is vestigial.) The deutonymph feeds on detritus or soft-bodied invertebrates and after engorging, emerges from the molt as an adult male or female. Adults also feed similarly to the deutonymphs. Males deposit spermatophores, which are picked up by females. The females deposit eggs in the soil, which hatch and release larvae.
This parasite is vector for scrub typhus, caused by the rickettsia Orienta tsutsugamushi. An uninfected larva may pick it up rickettsiae from an infected host, and if it is a female it may eventually transmit the rickettsiae to its eggs. Infected eggs produce infected larvae, and these may transmit the rickettsiae to an uninfected host.