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Ticks
Ticks are parasitic arachnids of the order Ixodida. They are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, and species, but can become larger when engorged. Ticks are external parasites, living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. The timing of the origin of ticks is uncertain, though the oldest known tick fossils are around 100 million years old, and come from the Cretaceous period. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates. Ticks belong to two major families: the Ixodidae, or hard ticks, and the Argasidae, or soft ticks. '' Nuttalliella'', a genus of tick from southern Africa, is the only member of the family Nuttalliellidae, and represents the most primitive living lineage of ticks. Adults have ovoid/pear-shaped bodies (idiosomas) which become engorged with blood when they feed, and eight legs. Their cephalothor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tick In Amber Carrying Spirochetes
Ticks are parasitic arachnids of the order Ixodida. They are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, and species, but can become larger when engorged. Ticks are external parasites, living by hematophagy, feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. The timing of the origin of ticks is uncertain, though the oldest known tick fossils are around 100 million years old, and come from the Cretaceous period. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates. Ticks belong to two major families: the Ixodidae, or hard ticks, and the Argasidae, or soft ticks. ''Nuttalliella'', a genus of tick from southern Africa, is the only member of the family Nuttalliellidae, and represents the most primitive living lineage of ticks. Adults have ovoid/pear-shaped bodies (idiosomas) which become engorged with blood when they feed, and eight legs. Their ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mite
Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as each other's closest relative within Arachnida, rendering the group invalid as a clade. Most mites are tiny, less than in length, and have a simple, unsegmented body plan. The small size of most species makes them easily overlooked; some species live in water, many live in soil as decomposers, others live on plants, sometimes creating galls, while others are Predation, predators or Parasitism, parasites. This last type includes the commercially destructive ''Varroa'' parasite of honey bees, as well as scabies mites of humans. Most species are harmless to humans, but a few are associated with allergies or may transmit diseases. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of mites is called acarology. Evolution and taxonomy Mites are not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ixodes Ricinus
''Ixodes ricinus'', the castor bean tick, is a chiefly European species of hard-bodied tick. It may reach a length of when engorged with a blood meal, and can transmit both bacterial and viral pathogens such as the causative agents of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis. Description In common with other species of ''Ixodes'', ''I. ricinus'' has no eyes and is not ornate; it has no festoons (wrinkles along the posterior margin). The palpi are longer than they are wide, and an anal groove is above the anus. It has a hard dorsal shield which covers the entire opisthosoma (abdomen), but only part of it in females and nymphs. ''I. ricinus'' is the largest of the three common species of ''Ixodes'' in the British Isles (the other two being ''Ixodes canisuga, I. canisuga'', the British dog tick, and ''Ixodes trianguliceps, I. trianguliceps'', the vole tick). Adult males are long, and unfed nymphs are long; females are long before feeding and long when eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argasidae
The Argasidae are the family of soft ticks, one of the three families of ticks. The family contains 193 species, although the composition of the genera is less certain, and more study is needed before the genera can become stable. The currently accepted genera are '' Antricola'', '' Argas'', '' Nothoaspis'', ''Ornithodoros'', and '' Otobius''. The Argasidae are very common in South Asia, along with 96 other species of ticks, making South Asia the region with the highest biodiversity of ticks worldwide. Soft ticks are resistant to desiccation and can live for several years in arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ... conditions. Physical characteristics Soft ticks lack the hard scutum present in the hard ticks ( Ixodidae). The gnathosoma (or capitulum, the mouthparts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasite
Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson characterised parasites' way of feeding as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as Armillaria mellea, honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the Orobanchaceae, broomrapes. There are six major parasitic Behavioral ecology#Evolutionarily stable strategy, strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), wikt:trophic, trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ixodidae
The Ixodidae are the family of hard ticks or scale ticks, one of the three families of ticks, consisting of 771 species, . They are known as 'hard ticks' because they have a scutum or hard shield, which the other major family of ticks, the 'soft ticks' (Argasidae), lack. They are ectoparasites of a wide range of host species, and some are vectors of pathogens that can cause human disease. Description They are distinguished from the Argasidae by the presence of a scutum. In both the nymph and the adult, a prominent gnathosoma (or capitulum, mouth and feeding parts) projects forward from the animal's body; in the Argasidae, conversely, the gnathosoma is concealed beneath the body. They differ, too, in their lifecycle; Ixodidae that attach to a host bite painlessly and are generally unnoticed, and they remain in place until they engorge and are ready to change their skin; this process may take days or weeks. Some species drop off the host to moult in a safe place, whereas others ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deinocrotonidae
''Deinocroton'' is an extinct genus of tick. It is known from four species found in Burmese amber, dating to the earliest part of the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 99 million years ago. Taxonomy Four species have been named, including the type ''D. draculi'', ''D. copia, D. bicornis'' and ''D. lacrimus'' all from Burmese amber, which dates to the late Albian-early Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago. The genus is suggested to be more closely related to '' Nuttalliella'' than to the two major living families of ticks, which is supported by the anatomy of its leg joints. While originally placed in its own family Deinocrotonidae, a 2024 study suggested that it should be placed into Nuttalliellidae, along with ''Nuttalliella'' and the extinct genus '' Legionaris'' also known from Burmese amber''.'' Etymology The name of the genus ''Deinocroton'' is composed of two words from the ancient Greek "deinos", "terrible", and "krot� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holothyrida
The Holothyrida are a small order of mites in the superorder Parasitiformes. No fossils are known. With body lengths of more than they are relatively large mites, with a heavily sclerotized body. It is divided into three families, Allothyridae, Holothyridae, and Neothyridae. In a 1998 experimental study, members of the family Allothyridae were found to ignore living animals but readily fed on the body fluids of dead arthropods, making them scavengers. The order has a distribution largely confined to former Gondwanan landmasses. They are the sister group to Ixodida (ticks). Systematics Allothyridae Allothyridae van der Hammen, 1972 — Australia, New Zealand * '' Allothyrus'' van der Hammen, 1961 :* '' Allothyrus australasiae'' (Womersley, 1935) :* '' Allothyrus constrictus'' (Domrow, 1955) * '' Australothyrus'' van der Hammen, 1983 :* '' Australothyrus ocellatus'' van der Hammen, 1983 Holothyridae Holothyridae Thorell, 1882 Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean islands, New Guinea, New C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scute
A scute () or scutum (Latin: ''scutum''; plural: ''scuta'' "Scutum (shield), shield") is a bony external plate or scale overlaid with horn, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, and the feet of Bird anatomy#Scales, birds. The term is also used to describe the anterior portion of the mesothorax in insects as well as some arachnids (e.g., the family Ixodidae, the scale ticks). Properties Scutes are similar to scale (zoology), scales and serve the same function. Unlike the scales of lizards and snakes, which are formed from the Epidermis (skin), epidermis, scutes are formed in the lower vascular layer of the skin and the epidermal element is only the top surface . Forming in the living dermis, the scutes produce a Horn (anatomy), horny outer layer that is superficially similar to that of scales. Scutes will usually not overlap as snake scales (but see the pangolin). The outer keratin layer is shed piecemeal, and not in one continuous layer of skin as seen in snakes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opilioacarida
Opilioacaridae is the sole family of mites in the order Opilioacarida, made up of about 13 genera. The mites of this family are rare, large (1.5 to 2.5 mm) mites, and are widely considered primitive, as they retain six pairs of eyes, and abdominal segmentation. They have historically been considered separate from other mites belonging to Acariformes and Parasitiformes, but are now generally considered a subgroup of Parasitiformes based on molecular phylogenetics. The first member of the Opilioacarida to be discovered was the Algerian species '' Opilioacarus segmentatus'', which was described by Carl Johannes With in 1902, followed by the Sicilian '' Eucarus italicus'' and '' Eucarus arabicus'' from Aden, both in 1904. Two fossil specimens are known, one of which was discovered in Baltic amber from the Eocene, while the other one was discovered in the Burmese amber from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (IC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuttalliella
''Nuttalliella'' is genus of tick. It contains a single living species, ''Nuttalliella namaqua'' found in southern Africa, having been reported from Tanzania, Namibia and South Africa. The genus is placed in its own family, Nuttalliellidae. It can be distinguished from ixodid ticks and argasid ticks by a combination of characteristics including the position of the stigmata, lack of setae, strongly corrugated integument, and form of the fenestrated plates. It is the most basal lineage of living ticks. History of research The first description by G.A.H. Bedford in 1931 was based upon a single female collected under a stone at Kamieskroon, in Little Namaqualand, by Dr R.F. Lawrence in October 1930. (1931):''Nuttalliella namaqua'', a new genus and species of tick. ''Parasitology'' 23 (2): 230-232. The genus and family were named for the bacteriologist George Nuttall, a specialist in diseases transmitted by ticks. The species was recognised as distinctive enough to warrant i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitiformes
Parasitiformes are a superorder of Arachnids, constituting one of the two major groups of mites, alongside Acariformes. Parasitiformes has, at times, been classified at the rank of order or suborder. It is uncertain whether Parasitiformes and Acariformes are closely related, and in many analyses they are recovered more closely related to other arachnids. Amongst the best known members of the group are the ticks, though the Mesostigmata is by far the most diverse group with over 8,000 described species, including economically important species such as the varroa mite. Description Taxonomy * Holothyrida - small group of scavenging mites native to former Gondwana landmasses * Ixodida – ticks * Mesostigmata – a large order of predatory and parasitic mites * Opilioacarida – a small group of large, long-legged segmented mites. Many species are parasitic (most famous of which are ticks), but not all. For example, about half of the 10,000 known species in the suborder Mesost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
