Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2009
INTRODUCTION
Tick toxicosis has been a research focus for almost 80 years and during this time, several excellent reviews on this subject have been written that cover the history of toxicosis research as well as its aetiology and pathology (Gregson, 1943, 1973; Stampa, 1959; Neitz, 1962; Murnaghan & O'Rouke, 1978; Gothe, Kunze & Hoogstraal, 1979; Gothe, 1984, 1999; Wikel, 1984; Gothe & Neitz, 1991; Sonenshine, 1993; Masina & Broady, 1999). A comprehensive monograph on tick toxicoses of all forms has also been published (Gothe, 1999).
FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TICK TOXINS
While arthropods such as spiders and scorpions are notoriously venomous organisms that utilize their toxins for protection as well as predation, the advantages for ticks being toxic is unclear. It has been suggested that tick paralysis may be a vestigial function conserved in ticks, when ticks evolved a parasitic lifestyle (Stone et al., 1989). Paralysis toxins have been attributed to functional significance during feeding of the tick, in that host mobility and grooming is impaired. This might be relevant, as tick paralysis sets in at the later stages of tick engorgement, when the tick is most liable to be killed by grooming practices. Paralysis would also affect the respiratory system leading to elevated breathing rates and an increase in carbon dioxide expiration. This together with pheromone secretion could attract ticks to the paralysed animal, which accelerates the finding and feeding of ticks.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.