Mutated Amblyomma americanum

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BramHuntingNematodes
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Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#1 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:20 pm

I have finally made a decent ringed wholemount slide, this time of a lone star tick. There was something unusual about this tick though-- it has only seven legs! I took these pictures with the Monozoom 7.

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Here are some shots prior to clearing:
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I took this shot of the setup using my Dynazoom flat field 4.5 semi-objective as a camera lens:
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1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#2 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:29 am

Some more ticky pictures using the compound microscope. Darkfield on the Dynazoom, 10x Plan Achromat.

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Spiracular plate

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Mouthparts. This would have been a good subject for stacking perhaps. I believe the focus is on the outline of the hypostome, under the chelicerae.

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Chelicerae detail.

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Eye. Ticks have their eyes in their armpits.

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Claw
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

DonSchaeffer
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Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Re: Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#3 Post by DonSchaeffer » Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:48 am

Artistic images!

dtsh
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Re: Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#4 Post by dtsh » Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:53 am

Ah my old friend; A. americanum, it has given me so much over the years, mostly ehrlichiosis.

That's an interesting specimen, I wonder if it was due to an injury as an earlier instar?

Somewhere around here I have a video clip of a great many early instars of A. americanum (probably) swarming over my knee. I've never attempted to count them, but I'd imagine 75+; it's the stuff of nightmares :)

Did you clear the specimen? It seems more transparent than the Dermacentor variabilis we found not so long ago, but you may have significantly more lumens available. It's been a couple of years since I've handled the Lone star tick as I left their normal territory, but I don't recall it being any more transparent.

A very nice images, I especially like the hypostome.

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#5 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Thu Apr 29, 2021 3:00 am

Yes, it was cleared in histo-clear 2 after being cleared for about an hour in Euparal. The Euparal started dissolving the lacquer so you can imagine my consternation at the possibility of losing this interesting creature. I pried open the cover slip and threw it into some absolute alcohol for two hours, then the histo-clear ii for two hours, then in omnimount. I took two of the pictures after dehydration but before clearing to verify that I was looking at a seven-legged tick! I thought some transparency would be useful when looking at some of the structures.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#6 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Thu Apr 29, 2021 3:02 am

Oh, and thanks, pals!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: Mutated Amblyomma americanum

#7 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:13 pm

dtsh wrote:
Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:53 am
Ah my old friend; A. americanum, it has given me so much over the years, mostly ehrlichiosis.

That's an interesting specimen, I wonder if it was due to an injury as an earlier instar?
I have asked the opinion of Dr. Don Champagne, an entomologist at UGA with some writings on Amblyomma. It seems he would tend to agree with your hypothesis. At the least, he is not aware of any genetic source of this deformity.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

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