Many years ago I traveled in back-country Mexico quite a bit -- in areas that were accessible only on foot. Mexicans had terms for different kinds of ticks: "garrapata" referred to regular sized ticks and "semillas" (I think) referred to tiny seed ticks. Hiking in brush country, my then boyfriend ended up (literally) hundreds of itchy bites from seed ticks. Maybe the lint roller would help pick up the seed ticks.
According to google, a seed tick is the larval form of a tick.
I KNOW you want to know more! And thanks to the Missouri Department of Conservation, you can!
A tick's life is divided into four stages: egg, larva (often called seed ticks), nymph and adult. Ticks advance through these stages by molting, during which they shed their outer skin.
After an egg hatches, the emerging larva is about the size of a poppy seed and has six legs. After a blood meal, typically from a small rodent, the larva drops off its host, casts its skin and becomes an 8-legged nymph. After attaching and feeding on another mammal, the nymph drops to the ground and transforms into an 8-legged adult. Adult ticks are 1/16 to 1/4 inch long, or about the size of a sesame seed. When engorged with blood, female ticks might expand to 3/8 inch or longer.
Soon after feeding and mating, which usually occurs on a host, the adult male dies. The female drops to the ground to lay thousands of eggs, and then she dies, too. Eggs may not hatch for several months, depending on humidity, temperature and other conditions.
Ticks are hardy parasites. Their skin is so tough it's hard to crush one. The larva, nymph and adult can survive several months without feeding. When not climbing onto low vegetation to wait for an animal or human to pass, they remain on or near the ground. Dehydration is their worst enemy. They often have to leave their perches to rehydrate themselves with ground moisture.