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Notes on Ticks. I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

George H. F. Nuttall
George H. F. Nuttall
Affiliation:
(From the Quick Laboratory, University of Cambridge.)
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Extract

In a paper published last year, I described the female, nymph and larva of Ixodes caledonicus. Having regard to the views expressed in my recent paper on the adaptation of ticks to the habits of their hosts, I wrote to Mr William Evans, in Edinburgh, asking him, if possible, to kindly search the dove-cot at Dunipace, Stirlingshire, for the missing male which he would probably find in the habitat of the host, the domestic pigeon. On 25 May, 1911, Mr Evans discovered two ticks, a male and female in copula, in the dove-cot, and he sent the specimens to me for identification. The female accords with my published description of caledonicus. The male is here described for the first time, and it is interesting to find that it agrees in structure and habits with what was to be expected according to the theory advanced by me in the second paper I have referred to.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 1911 , pp. 175 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1911

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References

1 1Parasitology, iii. 408–411, Figs. 1–3; reprinted in Ticks, Part II, 198–200, Figs. 191–193.Google Scholar

2 2Parasitology, iv. 46–67, Figs. 1–26; reprinted in Ticks, Part II, 324–345, Figs. 289–307.Google Scholar

1 In the larval Argas persicus, as has been noted elsewhere, the pads on the feet are large. The tick in this stage clings to the host for some days, or longer. In the nymphs and adults (and this appears to apply to all Argasidae) the pads are small, these stages being characterized by their habit of feeding rapidly. It appears to follow, also in this instance, that the presence of the large pad in the larva is correlated with its parasitic habits.

1 Measured from the dorsal ridge to the tip of the hypostome.

2 The presence of the prominent dorsal postero-external coxal spur in the male led me to re-examine the ♀, o and l, to see if I had overlooked this peculiar structure in them. I find that the ♀ shows these spurs but that they are less developed than in the ♂ In the female they are present on coxae I–III, very slight on coxa III, and absent on coxa IV. In the nymph they are present on coxa I, slight on coxa II, absent on coxae III–IV. In the larva they are absent. Although these spurs are easily overlooked it is well to note them in connection with the description I have already published of the ♀, o and l of caiedonicus.

1 Differing in this respect from the female, nymph and larva.

1 Parasitology, iii. 52–56, reprinted in Ticks, Part II, 330–334.Google Scholar