Mating, Sperm Transfer and Oviposition in Soft Ticks (Acari: Argasidae), a Review.

This review addresses the physiology and behavioral events involved in the reproduction of soft ticks (family Argasidae), with special attention to the events of their adult life: mating, sperm transfer and egg-laying. Many of these aspects are held in common with hard ticks, but the repeated short duration of feeding bouts in soft ticks, in contrast to the extended single engorgements of hard ticks, has consequences peculiar to soft tick reproduction. Reviewed are the dramatic external mechanism of sperm transfer, the unusual maturation and unique morphology and motility of the spermatozoa, the mechanism of oogenesis and its hormonal control, the mystery of fertilization, the involvement of pheromones in mating, the control of reproductive arrests and the vertical transmission of symbiotes in reproduction.

Record Longevity and Reproduction of an African Tick, Argas brumpti (Ixodida: Argasidae).

Argas brumpti Neumann is a large argasid (soft) tick that inhabits the drier areas of eastern and southern Africa. This species typically feeds on a wide variety of small to large mammals (including humans) and lizards, and resides in shallow caves, rocky areas, or dust-bath areas used by large mammals. Individuals of this species, collected as nymphs and adults from a semidesert area of Kenya and subsequently maintained under constant conditions in the laboratory, survived for 27 yr.

Activation of parasperm and eusperm upon ejaculation in Lepidoptera.

Almost all Lepidoptera produce two kinds of spermatozoa, a typical nucleated spermatozoön and an anucleate one. Inactive in the male prior to ejaculation, both of these spermatozoa become motile upon ejaculation and move to the female's sperm storage organ. This study shows that in several phylogenetically and morphologically diverse species of Lepidoptera, the anucleate spermatozoa, or parasperm (also known as apyrene spermatozoa), and the nucleated spermatozoa, or eusperm (also known as eupyrene spermatozoa), are activated by a protein of approximately 37.

Risk Factors of Lyme Disease: An Intersection of Environmental Ecology and Systems Science.

Lyme disease (LD) cases have been on the rise throughout the United States, costing the healthcare system up to $1.3 billion per year, and making LD one of the greatest threats to public health. Factors influencing the number of LD cases range from environmental to system-level variables, but little is known about the influence of vegetation (canopy, understory, and ground cover) and human behavioral risk on LD cases and exposure to infected ticks.