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==Morphology==
 
==Morphology==
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*Mouthparts
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**Sensory organs for locating a feeding site called '''palps'''
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**Chelicerae for puncturing the skin
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**The '''hypostome''' pushes through the wound made by the chelicerae where backwards pointing teeth lock the mouthparts into the skin
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***Dorsal groove in the hypostome permits the flow of tick saliva and host blood
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===Hard Ticks===
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*Hard, chitinous covering over dorsal surface called the '''scutum'''
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**Unique to hard ticks
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**Males have a scutum which covers the entire body surface
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**Females have a scutum which only covers a small area behind the head
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*Prominant biting mouthparts
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*Festoons ('pie crust edging') around the posterior body margins
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*Enamel coloured patches on scutum are present on '''ornate ticks'''
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*Female hard ticks may swell up to three times their normal size when taking a blood meal
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===Soft Ticks===
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*No scutum
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*Mouthparts are not visible from dorsal surface
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*Feed little and often as cannot swell as much as hard ticks
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==Feeding==
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*Ticks stand upright
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*Chelicerae cut through skin creating a pool of blood
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*Hypostome is inserted deep into the skin
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*Mouthparts are cemented into place
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*Ticks feed continuously
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*Tick saliva flows into host
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**Histamine blocking agents to minismise the host inflammatory response
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**Anticoagulents to ensure the free flow of blood
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**Cytolysins to enlarge the feeding lesion
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**Vasoactive mediators, enterases and carbohydrate splitting enzymes to increase the vascular permeability, facilitating feeding
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**Paralytic toxins
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*Host tissue is broken down leaving a zone of necrosis creating a '''feeding lesion'''
    
==Life Cycle==
 
==Life Cycle==
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