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Stylostome formation in trombiculid mites (Acariformes: Trombiculidae)

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Abstract

Stylostomes of the trombiculid mite larvae Neotrombicula pomeranzevi (Schluger), Hirsutiella zachvatkini (Schluger), Miyatrombicula esoensis (Sasa and Ogata) and Euschoengastia rotundata (Schluger) (Acariformes: Trombiculidae), formed in the host skin during feeding of the parasites on their natural hosts (voles) were studied histologically and histochemically. A stylostome is a variously shaped tube formed of solidified mite saliva that extends from the mouthparts of the parasite through the epidermis into the dermis of the host, and allows the mite to obtain its liquid food. The first step of stylostome formation is deposition of an eosinophilic cone, to which the larva’s chelicerae are glued. Organization of the stylostome depends on the mite species, and its walls may show weakly expressed longitudinal or transverse stratification. Histochemically, the stylostome is composed of complex glycoprotein with varying tinctorial properties through the width or the length of the stylostome’s walls. Beneath the distal end of the stylostome, irrespectively of its localization either in the epidermis or in the dermis of the host, a feeding cavity is formed as a result of the action of the hydrolytic components of the mite’s saliva forced through the stylostome into the wound. An inflammatory dermal reaction of moderate intensity is evolved during larval feeding and stylostome formation. It is manifested by the infiltration of the foci with neutrophiles, lymphocytes and macrophages and by dilation of capillaries of the terminal vessel bed and filling them by erythrocytes and other blood elements. Around the stylostome, necrosis of the epidermal cells occurs, leucocytes come to the damaged area and fuse with the necrotic epidermal cells, leading to the formation of the large scabs on the surface of the host’s skin. In the case of E. rotundata, single capsules having a terminal opening and containing feeding larva are formed on the abdomen of the hosts. The walls of the capsules are composed of the mite’s saliva flowing upon the surface of the host’s skin. At the bottom of the capsule, a stylostome perforating the epidermis is also present.

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Acknowledgments

I am gratefully thankful to Dr. N. I. Kudryashova from Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University and to Dr. A. A. Stekolnikov from Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Science for identification of the mite species used in this study. This study is supported by a grant N 09-04-00390-a from the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research.

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  1. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 199034, St-Petersburg, Russia

    Andrew B. Shatrov

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Shatrov, A.B. Stylostome formation in trombiculid mites (Acariformes: Trombiculidae). Exp Appl Acarol 49, 261–280 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-009-9264-0

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