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Functional Mouthparts in the Dog Fur Mite Cheyletiella yasguri Smiley, 1965 (Acari, Prostigmata)
Author(s) -
Hallas Thorkil E.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
acta zoologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.414
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1463-6395
pISSN - 0001-7272
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6395.1982.tb00769.x
Subject(s) - arthropod mouthparts , stylet , biology , biting , anatomy , claw , acari , saliva , tarsus (eyelids) , zoology , ecology , medicine , biochemistry , surgery , eyelid
The stylet‐like chelicerae in C. yasguri are modified claws as they articulate due to muscles in the terminal segment (tarsus) of the modified legs forming the biting apparatus. The united anterior parts of the stylets form a hollow needle through which saliva can be injected 10–20 μm into the skin. When stylets and the salivary duct are retracted they open for ingestion of the dissolved tissue. Thus C. yasguri has external digestion and may leave deposits of saliva in the skin surface of the host. Such deposits probably call for a host reaction—the skin symptoms called cheyletiellosis. Attention is drawn to the striking correspondence between the mouthparts of C. yasguri and those of Tardigrada. They are in principle composed by the same functional elements.